IN STRIDE: Princeton High girls’ lacrosse player Ciara Celestin heads up the field in PHS’s 12-9 win over Sparta in the North Jersey Group III sectional semifinals. Last Wednesday, second-seeded PHS fell 16-8 to top-seeded Mendham in the sectional title game. The defeat left PHS with a final record of 18-4.
(Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Even though the Princeton High girls’ lacrosse team trailed Mendham by three goals last Wednesday in the North Jersey Group III sectional final, Ciara Celestin wasn’t concerned.

“In our Sparta game on Thursday; we were down at halftime,” said PHS senior defender Celestin, referring to PHS’s 12-9 win over Sparta in the sectional semis.

“Usually we get frantic when that happens but we came back and won that game so our mentality was like let’s just go out and do the same thing we did last week.”

Unfortunately the second-seeded Little Tigers couldn’t produce the same kind of rally as top-seeded Mendham pulled away to a 16-8 victory.

“I think they started to win the draws and that is when we usually go downhill,” said Celestin.

“When we play our best is when we win the draws. I think it was getting on the ground and we weren’t getting to the ground balls quick enough. I don’t know if we got tired. I commend them, they were great.”

PHS certainly had a commendable season as it ended with a final record of 18-4 in making its trip to the sectional finals for the first time this century.

“It was a great last season for me as a senior; I am so proud of everyone,” said Celestin.

“I was really happy with how everyone played. We had an early loss to North [WW/P-N] and we knew they were going to be a tough team; we have always had a rivalry with them. We picked it back up. We had a defeat to Allentown, that was two losses early on. I think sometimes that can get to a team but we just kept trucking through the season. We had our second North game in counties [an 18-14 loss in the semis] and that was a little bit worse than the first one I think. After that, it was just game time. We are in states now; we have to work hard. We played our best at the end.”

Celestin and her classmates Olivia Kelly and Madison Luther worked hard to provide leadership to the end.

“None of us are the standout players, we are not Emilia [Lopez-Ona] or Liz Jacobs and we know that so we went into the season looking to be positive and being the moms of the team,” said Celestin.

“We knew we didn’t have to be the stars on the field but we needed to keep things positive and just get everyone on the same page and keep it going. I think that is more the role that we had.”

PHS first-year head coach Kelsey O’Gorman believes that her seniors served as good role models.

“Olivia was really a great asset for feeding on our attack; Maddie and Ciara were the glue of our defense,” said O’Gorman.

“They really were puzzle pieces that we will miss next year. They were a great presence on the field for us and we will miss them.”

In assessing the loss to Mendham, O’Gorman acknowledged that her team didn’t show its customary presence of mind.

“I felt like we were giving away the ball and making silly errors,” said O’Gorman, whose team found itself trailing 7-1 with 4:30 left in the first half. “I think we just didn’t handle the pressure as well as we expected.”

PHS produced a 4-1 run coming into halftime to put some pressure on the Minutemen but couldn’t build on that as the game unfolded.

“I think we ran out of steam; we did get tired,” said O’Gorman, who got three goals apiece in the loss from junior star Lopez-Ona and sophomore standout Gabby Gibbons with Jacobs and Kelly chipping in one each.

“They are just a great program; their kids are really smart. Not to take anything away from our girls but we were just making some errors that we haven’t done in the past and that is why you can’t come up with a ‘W’ against a team like that.”

In O’Gorman’s view, the Little Tigers will come away with some important lessons from the defeat.

“Playing at this level is a learning experience for everyone,” said O’Gorman. “Everyone needs to be ready for the ball and the pressure they are going to face in a final game like this. Since we haven’t reached this point, it is just another building block, another step we can take to advance.”

PHS certainly took some major steps in the right direction this spring. “I am so proud of the girls; I really think they did believe in each other,” said O’Gorman.

“They did have faith in one another and that is what got them this far. Just because we didn’t come out with a win today, it doesn’t take away from the competition we have put forth this far. We really gave teams battles, even Mendham.”

Going forward, the Little Tigers appear to have the foundation in place to keep winning a lot of games.

“We are in for another solid season next year,” said O’Gorman, who returns a trio of junior stars in Lopez-Ona, Jacobs, and Dana Smith in addition to sophomore standouts Gibbons and Mira Shane.

“They have learned a lot from this season. We are becoming more composed, we are becoming more mature and that’s just going to help us advance even more next year.”

Celestin, for her part, believes PHS is maturing into something special.

“We were 18-4, you can’t get much better than,” said Celestin, who is headed to Northeastern University.

“Hopefully they will go out and be even better next year. I am so proud of them. I can’t wait to come back and watch.”