High School Lacrosse:
Eastern Scores Last To Defeat Lenape

Thursday, May 6, 1999

By Gary Steiner
SJSports Staff Writer

Eastern visited Lenape on Thursday in a regular season matchup. Both teams had already clinched playoff spots, but were looking to improve their records to help get a better seed in the playoffs. Both teams were also coming off of losses the day before, Eastern to Shawnee 21-11, and Lenape to Washington Township 12-6, so it was time to start a new win streak. In a game in which defense was an afterthought, the Lady Vikings would be the survivors with a 13-12 victory.

Over 7 minutes went by to open the game before the first goal. It was Janell McGovern who would strike first for Lenape (17:31). The Lady Vikings immediately responded when Lisa Cherill scored off of a pass from Lindsey Domers 17 seconds later. Lori Beth Petruzzi put the Lady Indians back on top with a strike from 8 yards out (16:49). Eastern followed up with three unanswered goals, first from McGovern (15:35), next Laura Levins off of a free position (14:43), then Amy Jackson with a pass from Domers (13:23). Lenape called a timeout to gather their breath, which seemed to help as they responded with a string of 5 goals. First Laura Bilazarian from Kristen Hann (12:08), then McGovern (11:58), then McGovern again this time off a free position (10:33), then Gina Vosbikian (9:03), and finally Petruzzi off a pass from Vosbikian (8:55) to put the Lady Indians up 7-4. Eastern got back on the board when Cherill scored off of a free position (8:09). Then things quieted down for several minutes until McGovern scored unassisted with a neat toss from around the back of the net (2:47). Vosbikian followed this up 15 seconds later with her second goal of the game. Halftime came with Lenape up 9-5.

Eastern would start off the second half scoring when Levins put one in off a pass from Kelly Beakley (21:17). McGovern responded for Lenape with her 5th of the game (19:14). Then Eastern ripped off two quick scores, first Domers from Jaime Fraser (18:27), then 9 seconds later Cherill scored her 4th of the game. Lenape then called a timeout, during which things got a little strange. Goalie Laura Finley and Coach Mulhern got into an argument, the result of which was Finley suddenly pulled herself out of the game. The timeout ended with Lenape unprepared for the substitution, the result of which was Cherill scoring on a free position into an open net (18:00) when the goalie-less Lady Indians had one of their players intercept a ball in the crease, not realizing this was illegal. This put the score at Lenape 10 - Eastern 9. Emily Brugger was then put in as the new Lenape goalie.

Janell McGovern scored her 6th goal of the game less than a minute later off of a free position pass from Vosbikian. Eastern then scored three straight goals over a 10 minute span, first Cherill with her 6th of the game (15:06), next Jackson with her 2nd (10:01), then Danielle Castillo off of a free position shot (7:47). This put Eastern up 12-11. Thirty seconds later, Petruzzi scored her 3rd of the game to tie it up for Lenape. Tracie Cohen had a goal called back for the Lady Indians when a player was called in the crease. Laura Levins' goal with 2:39 remaining turned out to be the game winner, which was a neat underhand shuttle toss into the net. The Lady Vikings held off the Lady Indians in the final minutes to come away with the hard fought 13-12 victory.

Photos by Forrest Robleto