Cherokee girls lacrosse rebounds in a big way against Southern
EVESHAM — Cherokee took a tough lesson to heart.
One game after putting its entire season in jeopardy in a tense overtime playoff game against Kingsway, the Cherokee girls lacrosse team raced out to a six-goal lead in a dominating, never-in-doubt South Group 4 semifinal win against Southern.
“This was really important,” Cherokee senior Aly Mascolo said. “Because of how we played in our last game, we just wanted to come back and prove ourselves. This is how we should have played from the start.”
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As expected, Cherokee will visit Lenape on Wednesday for the South Group 4 title. The defending NJSIAA Group 4 champions will defend their title on the road in large part because of a loss to their sister school during the regular season.
What wasn’t expected was a two-overtime quarterfinal struggle against Kingsway. Cherokee put its hopes of a state title repeat at the mercy of one bad bounce, one mistake. Not wanting to give Southern any hope of derailing things, Cherokee opened the game on a six-goal tear, then added another second-half six-goal run for good measure.
There was definitely a point to be made.
“We wanted to show everybody that we are way better team than we showed against Kingsway,” Mascolo said. “We thought it was really important to get out to a quick star and come back strong.
“It was all mental. We knew we are better than that. We just had to come out and prove it. We had a clean practice the next day. Then, we had a talk with each other and we decided we had to step it up.”
The coaches broke down film. They met with the team. The captains had their own talk. Lessons learned, Cherokee set its sights forward.
"This team has five or six sophomores in this lineup,” coach Jeff Niederberger said. “We've got some juniors who are new to the lineup. They are starting to play like experienced varsity players.
“Today was about doing the little things well, communicating, fundamentals. That's what we asked of our girls. Today was one of the best team efforts we've had all season. We're happy with that.”
Cherokee earned the right to a rematch with Lenape. Motivation won’t be an issue this time around.
“Now we know what we have to do,” Mascolo said. “We proved it today. I think this game was perfect. We have to the same mentality going into the next one.
“We're just really like a family. This is the closest we have ever been. We all just play well together. We just want to play for each other.”
Tom Rimback, sports reporter
Tom Rimback grew up reading the Burlington County Times and Courier Post sports sections and began writing for the BCT in 1996. He has covered everything from Super Bowls and Final Fours to Tri-County Swimming but he’s happiest on a sideline interviewing South Jersey scholastic athletes for the Burlington County Times, the Courier Post and The Daily Journal. Follow him on twitter @RimbackBCT. Email him with story ideas at trimback@thebct.com and, most importantly, support local journalism with a subscription.
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This article originally appeared on Burlington County Times: Cherokee girls lacrosse gets back on trackl to earn repeat title shot
