Another Strong Girls’ Lacrosse Season

Burlington County produces talented teams and individuals in many sports, but it is hard to top that area in girls’ lacrosse. This is a recurring theme and not something just limited to this year: once again it has been a banner season for Burlington County.

The Philadelphia Inquirer just published its 11-member first-team all-South Jersey squad and 10 of the players were from Burlington County, including Lenape sophomore Gabby Fornia, who was the paper’s South Jersey player of the year.

Moorestown, which had won the previous three Tournament of Champions titles, still ended up claiming the state Group 3 championship and was South Jersey’s top rated team according to laxpower.com, the computerized rankings.

The Quakers went 20-4 and finished ranked No. 3 in the state according to laxpower.com. Senior Melanie Becker, who is a Vanderbilt recruit, had 44 goals and was a consensus all-South Jersey midfielder.

The other seniors who have made college commitments include Courtney Bodine (La Salle), Abbey Brooks (Rutgers), Jess Button (Holy Cross), Miranda Chrone (College of New Jersey), Abbey Cooper (Catholic U), Keira Dalmass (Connecticut), Maggie Handlan (Michigan), Alex O’Donnell (Brown), Adriana Pendino (Michigan), and Emily Troy (Gettysburg).

Sophomore midfielder Quinn Nicolai, who has already committed to Penn State, added 51 goals.

Moorestown was South Jersey’s lone state champion this season, but the Quakers were joined as South Jersey champs by Lenape.

Fornia led the Indians' attack with 79 goals and 91 assists--incredible production for any player, especially a sophomore.

With Fornia and Kasey Donoghue scoring three goals, the Indians beat rival Shawnee (yet another Burlington County team), 10-7 to win the South Group 4 title. It was the second consecutive sectional title for the Indians.

Lenape finished 20-2 and the only two losses were 16-11 to Moorestown in the regular season and 11-9 to Ridgewood in the state Group 4 final.

The Indians were ranked No. 5 in the state. Again, to show the power of Burlington County, Shawnee was the third ranked South Jersey team and 10th in the state.

The fourth South Jersey team was Clearview of Gloucester County, which was ranked 19th in the state. Then came two more South Jersey teams from Burlington County: Cherokee, which was 23rd and Seneca which was 24th.

One other Burlington County team, Holy Cross, which finished as the 31st ranked team in the state, advanced to the South Group 1 final before losing to Shore, 7-6.

With so many top underclassmen such as Fornia and Nicolai, look for Burlington County to continue its outstanding success in girls’ lacrosse next season and probably many others after.

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Author: Marc Narducci