Ridgewood girls lacrosse keeps dynasty going with dramatic Bergen County final win
Morgan McGahan was already in the midst of one of if not the best games of her career when, with just over a minute remaining, she was staring down Northern Highlands’ Abby Henderson running down the middle of the field.
It was the senior’s defining moment of her Ridgewood career, and she was up to the task, making the save on Henderson with 1:04 to go to preserve the Maroon dynasty in the Bergen County Girls Lacrosse Tournament.
Her ninth save of the game allowed Ridgewood to escape with a 13-12 victory over the Highlanders and an 18th consecutive county championship that keeps their perfect record in the tournament intact.
“My entire concentration was on the ball,” McGahan said. “I saw it real well off the shot and reacted. That was a save I just had to make.”
Northern Highlands, playing a girl down for the majority of the last 10 minutes of the game, had plenty of fight, and when sophomore Maddie Willkomm scored her third of the game off a free position with 8:25 left to tie it at 12, they had Ridgewood on the ropes.
They just couldn’t overcome the manpower deficit. With 4:53 remaining, Ridgewood went into a stall, holding the ball until 3:12, before starting to work the offense.
“We were looking to see our penalty expire and then take advantage of the (girl up),” Ridgewood coach Jim Montegari said. “We worked the ball and got a good shot. We were patient and we got a good shot.”
It was senior Merrill Klein who made the pass inside to Keira Schwartz, and the sophomore scored with 2:13 left.
“Their goalie is really good, so I was definitely aiming for a spot,” Schwartz said. “My teammates did a great job of running the play and setting me up. I just had to finish it.”
After McGahan’s save, the ball ended up with Lindsey Devir, who worked back and forth behind the Ridgewood goal line to burn off the final 50 seconds.
“This is a whole new starting group and a new coach,” the senior said. “We really weren’t thinking about the previous 17 (titles), because they belonged to someone else. We wanted to grab one of our own, for this team, and that was our focus.”
Turning point
Devir’s fourth goal of the first half at the buzzer, with the Maroons a girl up, put Ridgewood up 8-5 at the intermission. They did not take advantage of the momentum; instead it was Northern Highlands who would score the first five goals of the second half.
Junior Angela Beardsley, who twisted her ankle in pregame warmups and missed the first 12 minutes of the game, scored three of those goals, the last off a setup from Willkomm, to go up 10-8 with 18:31 left in the second half.
“I just told them we have to wake up,” Montegari said of his comments during the timeout after the fifth goal. “We lost our energy and we had to pick it up. We got sloppy and they took advantage of it. We had to snap out of it.”
The Maroons scored the next four goals, with Schwartz getting the third of her four goals in the game to make it 12-10. Devir’s fifth of the game gave Ridgewood the lead just before on Klein’s fourth of five assists.
They said it
“That’s the best I’ve seen her play. She was on fire today. She comes up big in big games and you saw it today.” – Montegari on McGahan
“She buries that shot 99 times out of a hundred, but give the goalie credit for a great play. Playing down (a girl) like we were, to get the turnover (with 1:32 left) and to get Abby the opportunity, we can’t ask for more.” – Northern Highlands coach Mike Menzella on the last shot.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Ridgewood NJ girls lacrosse wins another Bergen County title
