By Ella Brockway - Student Contributor 

RED BANK — With four minutes left to play, Red Bank Catholic head coach Lisa Caprioni needed a timeout. Shore senior attack Allie Reiser had just scored her fourth goal of the game to cut the RBC lead to one, the Caseys’ keep-away strategy on the offensive end wasn’t working and the team needed to regroup.

“This game is all about possession, and when you get the draw you can dictate play,” Caprioni said. “We just wanted to be patient and take some time off the clock.”

The Caseys went on to win the next four consecutive draws and score three unanswered goals to take home an 11-7 upset win over the Blue Devils when both teams opened the the Shore Conference girls lacrosse season Wednesday. Seniors Olivia Farrington and Amanda Murphy had three goals each for RBC. The game was a rematch of last year’s Shore Conference Tournament semifinal, which Shore won 14-8.

RBC's Mackenzie Boyle (25) and Maggie Leys (14) chase Shore's Kelsey Moore (23) during the Caseys' 11-7 win on opening day. (Photo by Ella Brockway).
RBC's Mackenzie Boyle (25) and Maggie Leys (14) chase Shore's Kelsey Moore (23) during the Caseys' 11-7 win on opening day. (Photo by Ella Brockway).
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“We’ve got a young group of kids and I thought my seniors did a nice job of getting everybody calmed down and being leaders out there,” Caprioni said. “Seniors did senior things, and it paid off today.”

The RBC defense, led by senior Emily Holtz, held Shore to three goals in the first half.

The Blue Devils hopped out to an early lead with two goals from junior midfielder Mary Kate George at the 21:25 and 11:06 marks. George, a returning first-team All-Shore selection and an Ohio State commit, had 70 goals and 16 assists last season.

Red Bank Catholic struggled to find its offensive rhythm and crack the Shore defense in the first half until Farrington and Murphy scored back-to-back goals with less than two minutes to play in the half.

Shore swung the energy back in its favor with 12 seconds left in the first half on Allie Reiser’s first goal of the game that tied the game at three at halftime.

The Blue Devils rode the momentum into the second half, taking a 4-3 lead early on another goal from Reiser. Last season Reiser scored 50 goals and had five assists.

The Caseys took control on both the offensive and defensive ends after that. Sophomore attack Mackenzie Boyle scored two goals in a row in transition to give RBC a 5-4 lead with 19:37 to go in the game. Boyle finished with three goals and two assists on the day, and the Caseys’ defense held Shore scoreless for just over nine minutes.

Red Bank Catholic's Olivia Farrington had three goals and two assists to help the Caseys beat Shore Regional to open the season. (Photo by Ella Brockway.
Red Bank Catholic's Olivia Farrington had three goals and two assists to help the Caseys beat Shore Regional to open the season. (Photo by Ella Brockway.
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The teams traded goals from Lily Salcedo for RBC and from Kelsey Moore for Shore to keep the Caseys’ lead at one with 12:55 to play. Farrington stepped up in the next two minutes to stretch the RBC lead to two with back-to-back-goals. Farrington, a Villanova commit, has 149 goals and 53 assists in her career and was a first-team All-Shore selection last year.

Reiser’s goal with four minutes left in the second half was Shore’s final strike in its comeback attempt, as the Caseys controlled the draws for the remainder of the game and scored three times in the final three minutes to seal the win.

“(Farrington) really showed leadership in the backfield today,” Caprioni said. “Getting the draw out here is huge, and Olivia, (junior midfielder and Louisville commit) Kristen (Pezzullo), and Mackenzie (Boyle) did a really nice job in the circle for us.”

The Caseys will face one of their biggest tests of the season with a trip to defending SCT champion Rumson-Fair Haven on Saturday. The Bulldogs won, 11-3, last season.

“We’ve got a lot of good people coming back and we have some missing pieces,” Caprioni said. “This is certainly a step in the right direction, and hopefully we’re going to build off of this.”

Box Score

Red Bank Catholic 11, Shore 7

Shore (0-1) 3 4 7

RBC (1-0) 3 8 11

GOALS: S – Allie Reiser 4, Mary Kate George 3, Kelsey Moore 1; RBC – Amanda Murphy 3, Mackenzie Boyle 3, Emily Rogers 1, Lily Salcedo 1, Olivia Farrington 3

ASSISTS: S – Mary Kate George 3; RBC – Mackenzie Boyle 2, Olivia Farrington 2, Kristen Pezzullo 2

SAVES: S – Molly Santi 6; RBC – Emily Kirman 10 .

 

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