Schools
Dunphey Nets Career-High 5 Goals to Lift Hillsborough to County Title
Minutillo adds four goals, named MVP as Raiders break game open with 4 goals for a 6-goal lead in second half.
Led by Kristina Dunphey’s five goals, the top-seeded girls lacrosse team beat second-seeded Montgomery 17-13 Saturday at Ridge High School to win its first Somerset County Tournament championship since 2007.
1st
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2nd
Final
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Montgomery (13-5 )
6
7
13
Hillsborough (17-2)
8
9
17
IN SHORT
The Raiders won the majority of the draws and groundballs and the offense was able to control the play for large portions of the game.
Kristina Vangeli won the opening draw for the Raiders and set up Kitty Dawson for her first of two goals 43 seconds into the game to give the Raiders the lead.
The Cougars tied the game at 1 less than a minute later, but Dawson was not done as she set up Courtney Emanuele with a nifty feed from the left of the net. She then scored unassisted less than a minute later and assisted on Kristina Dunphey’s first goal.
The teams combined for five goals during the game's first four minutes, but the defenses finally got going. No goals were scored over the next seven-plus minutes until Kristina Dunphey scored unassisted at the 14:12 mark to give the Raiders a 5-1 lead.
Montgomery scored the final two goals of the half to cut the deficit to 8-6 at intermission.
The Raiders came out strong to start the second half and scored four straight goals in the first five minutes to open up a six-goal cushion to put the game out of reach. The Cougars attempted to mount a rally, but the Raiders answered and goalie Marissa made three key saves to preserve the win.
RAIDER OF THE GAME
Kristina Dunphey—The sophomore came through in the biggest game of her career to lead the Raiders with a career-high five goals and an assist.
OTHER KEY PERFORMANCES
- Kitty Dawson had six points on two goals and four assists. She also scored the 100th goal of her high school career early in the first half.
- Gianna Minutillo had four goals and was named Somerset County Tournament MVP.
- Elyse Malecki had three goals and an assist.
- Marissa Traina—With the Cougars rallying late in the second half, she came up with three key saves on three straight Cougar possessions.
- Kristina Vangeli—In a game that came down to possessions and draw control, she took all of the draws for the Raiders.
THEY SAID IT
“We gave it our all. At times, it wasn’t our best game but everyone hustled the entire game”—Kristina Dunphey
“All of the seniors went to the prom last night but we knew what was at stake today and took care of business."—Tournament MVP Gianna Minutello
“Both teams are offensively talented. We knew that this would be a game of possession so draw control was key. We won that part so then is was just making the shots”—Coach Beth Murrin
Up Next—Manalapan Tuesday in the first round of the state tournament, 4:30 p.m.