ON THE ATTACK: Princeton High girls’ lacrosse player Julia Ryan fires the ball up the field last Thursday against the Hun School in the season opener for both teams. Senior attacker Ryan had a goal and eight assists to help PHS pull away to a 19-8 win over the Raiders. PHS, now 2-0, hosts Princeton Day School on April 7, play at Lenape on April 9, and plays at Robbinsville on April 11. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

As a four-year starting guard for the Princeton High girls’ basketball team, Julia Ryan got plenty of experience running an offense.

This spring, as senior Ryan has moved to tack from midfield for the PHS girls’ lacrosse team, that background is coming in handy.

“I am playing behind the goal so I make the feeds go out and make sure everyone is set in the offense,” said Ryan. “I like to say that I can control the offense a little bit, which is great.”

In the season opener at Hun last Thursday, Ryan was in control of the PHS attack, tallying a goal and eight assists as the Little Tigers pulled away to a 19-8 triumph.

“Once we realized that we could really compete with this team, we stepped up,” said Ryan.

“People calmed down and made the best pass that they could and that is when it all started to click.”

Things really clicked for PHS in the second half as they outscored the Raiders 11-3.

“They were sending some doubles onto the feeder, when the people in the stack would realize that the double was coming, they would cut at the exact right time,” explained Ryan, who is headed to Temple University where she will be playing for its women’s lax program. “The timing of cuts and good feeds were really what allowed us to pull away.”

Classmate and Cornell-bound Lis was on the receiving end of many of Ryan’s feed as she scored eight goals.

“I hit Taylor a bunch of times, we have been playing together since 8th grade so I think that is a connection,” added Ryan, who tallied a bunch of points as PHS defeated WW/P-N 19-5 last Saturday, chipping in four goals and four assists in the win.

“We have been working a lot in practice on feeding and proper timing of cuts so I think that all came together really well today.”

The PHS defensive unit also came together as it stifled the Raiders.  “The defense was great today, Gabby Deitch and Serena Bolitho had some awesome clears today coming out,” said Ryan.

“Mary Rose Young did a great job in goalie, she made a save between her legs. We had some great one-on-one defense down there and they really stopped some of Hun’s sets.”

PHS head coach David Schlesinger believes Ryan will make a great impact in her new spot in the field.

The change of position  I think is going to be fantastic for her, she is just a natural attacker,” asserted Schlesinger.

“She has great speed and elusive moves. She has great stick skills. She has a good head on her shoulders so she makes good decisions. She knows plays not to make. It really helps our offense click to have a player like that. We have enough talented players so when they try to take her out of the play with pressure, we have other girls who can really step up.”

Schlesinger pointed to PHS’s dominance on draw controls as a key factor in the win over Hun.

“We noticed that we had a height advantage on the circle so at our timeout in the first half, that is when we drew the girls’ attention to that and we were able to take advantage of that,” recalled Schlesinger.

“They only had one tall girl typically at center or on the circle so we were able to direct the draws, that was the game, especially in the second half. We dominated the draw control.”

In assessing how his team took control of the contest, Schlesinger was proud of how his players shared the ball.

“The unselfishness of the team, we had a lot of assisted goals and that was pretty impressive,” said Schlesinger.

“We have had a lot of practice time so when they went to their backer zone, we had practiced against a backer. When they were into man to man, we know what plays we run that work very well against man to man. It is really just recognition and the girls did a great job of recognizing the defenses that they ran and adjusting.”

The impressive performance was crucial for a PHS squad that features a number of new faces.

“We are starting two freshmen, we are playing a third quite a bit and we have a couple of untested sophomores that are starting,” said Schlesinger, whose team hosts Princeton Day School on April 7, plays at Lenape on April 9, and at Robbinsville on April 11. “We may not have looked young but we are a very young and inexperienced team.”

Ryan, for her part, believes that passing the season-opening test with aplomb boosted the team’s self-belief.

“It is a great confidence builder with the 10-goal win, we had some girls that came up big,” said Ryan. “Margaret Jacobs, had three goals which is big for her. Mariana Lopez-Ona came out big. It was a really good game for everyone.”