LAST STOP: Princeton Day School girls’ lacrosse senior goalie Kirsten Kuzmicz guards the cage last Monday in PDS’s 18-11 victory over Pennington in the state Prep B championship game. Senior star Kuzmicz made 12 saves in the win as she earned her second state title of the year after helping the PDS girls’ soccer team to the Prep B title last fall. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

After helping the Princeton Day School girls’ soccer team win the state Prep B title last fall, Kirsten Kuzmicz was determined to add another state crown to her resume this spring.

Kuzmicz had last Monday circled on her calendar as that was the date slated for the Prep B title game in girls’ lacrosse.

In the wake of making 12 saves to help top-seeded PDS defeat second-seeded Pennington 18-11 in Monday’s title showdown, the star goalie savored ending her Panther career by achieving that second state championship.

“May 11, that was our ticket,” said a beaming Kuzmicz. “It is an awesome way to end it. It feels great after four years, finally getting a championship in lacrosse.”

Things didn’t start out great for the Panthers as they fell behind 2-0 in the first 2:30 of the contest.

“It was a little shaky in the beginning,” said Kuzmicz, who was converted to goalie from midfield last spring in her junior season. “There was a whole another 50 minutes left so we know we have to fight hard until the end.”

Kuzmicz fought hard in the cage, making some key saves as PDS started to roll, going on an 11-0 run that broke open the contest. “Our team clicked in. I was feeling good,” said Kuzmicz, recalling the first half run.

The Panthers never looked back, building their lead to 18-5 late in the second half to turn the game into a rout.

In the raucous post-game celebration, the Panthers repeatedly chanted May 11, May 11 while Kuzmicz and the team’s other senior, Morgan Foster, brandished the trophy and plaque the team earned with the victory.

In reflecting on the qualities that made PDS a championship team, Kuzmicz cited intensity of effort and feeling.

“We are a hard working and very passionate team,” said Kuzmicz. “We have bonded really well since the beginning of the season. As the season went on, we played a lot harder. We kept stepping up our game.”

Longtime PDS head coach Jill Thomas was thrilled to see Kuzmicz and Foster end their careers in style.

“A year in goal and she wins a state title so there you go, you can’t really beat that,” said Thomas. “It is terrific, what a feeling to go out with a championship, good for them.”

PDS played terrifically all over the field as it went on its 11-0 first half run that changed the tone of the contest.

“We played pretty darn well; we made the adjustment on the draw and took control of the center of the field,” said Thomas.

“They just got into what we have been working on in the past couple of weeks, playing our game and setting our tempo; doing what we do instead of worrying about what everybody else does. Once we could do that, it was great.”

The Panthers showed great balance on the offensive end as sophomore Morgan Mills and freshman Madison Mundenar each tallied five goals and an assist in the win over Pennington with sophomore Hannah Bunce chipping in three goals and an assist, freshman Kate Bennett contributing two goals and two assists, and senior standout Foster adding a goal and four assists.

“It is pretty hard to face guard one because we have a bunch of people we can go to, which is kind of nice,” said Thomas.

It has been nice for Thomas to see her young squad develop into such a force.

“They believe in their senior leadership,” said Thomas, whose team ended the season with an 11-6 record.

“They have grown so much. We got eight sophomores and freshmen on the field out of 12. We started to jell and understand in Florida and then we had bumps along the way. The Peddie game (a 13-11 win on April 29) is when we really said we can play this game. We really started to sense what we had to do and to not have the unforced turnovers. They realized what they were. They have really worked hard and gotten it done so that is good.”

Kuzmicz, for her part, is proud of how the team worked through the ups and down to finish with a title.

“We were in a lot of the games and even the games we didn’t do so well in, but we still worked hard,” said Kuzmicz, who is heading to Franklin and Marshall College where she plans to walk on to the school’s women’s lacrosse team. “We didn’t really stop, we have been going seven days week.”