ENCORE PERFORMANCE: Princeton Day School girls’ lacrosse player Morgan Mills, left, goes after the ball in the state Prep B title game against Pennington last Monday. Junior Mills scored four goals to help top-seeded PDS post an 18-11 win over the second-seeded Red Raiders and win its second straight Prep B crown. The win gave the Panthers a final record of 13-5. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Late in the second half of the state Prep B girls’ lacrosse championship game last Monday, Princeton Day School junior star Morgan Mills lay prone on the turf, gasping for air.

With the help of PDS head coach Jill Thomas and training staff, Mills bounced back to her feet and headed to the sidelines and the scare ended with smiles from her teammates.

By that time, top-seeded PDS had applied the knockout blow to second seeded Pennington, pulling away to an 18-11 triumph and its second straight Prep B crown.

Coming into the contest, which was a rematch of last year’s title game, Mills was expecting a battle for the Red Raiders.

“Pennington is a competitive, good, scrappy team so we knew they were going to to come out and be aggressive,” said Mills. “We didn’t expect anything less.”

It was PDS, though, that produced an opening flurry, racing out to an 11-4 lead.

“We knew that the key to success was just getting out early and having faith that our teammates were going to be there,” said midfielder/attacker Mills.

“Our big mantra for the game was to not force things and maintain a relaxed, composed state the whole time.”

Mills got into the flow of things, scoring three goals in the first half and ending the afternoon with a total of four.

“I was face-guarded for a little bit in the earlier part of the game so that was a little frustrating to begin with but I was able to work with my teammates,” said Mills, who is heading to another great team as she has committed to attend Princeton University and play for its women’s lacrosse program.

“They were fantastic at setting picks and even if the scoring opportunities weren’t there immediately for me, I knew if we just kept looking for each other and facilitating different cuts, it would go OK.”

In Mills’ view, the squad’s unity on and off the field has paved the way to its back-to-back titles.

“I think the thing that sets our team apart from the others is that we really emphasize teamwork and togetherness,” said Mills.

“We have this cohesive quality. We spend a lot of time working on team bonding. We have our Florida trip in the beginning of the year and that is definitely a great solidifying feature, helping ensure that we trust one another and our coaches.”

PDS head coach Jill Thomas trusted that her team could execute its game plan at both ends of the field against Pennington.

“We wanted to attack and go with it and not settle,” said Thomas. “They have great players. We knew if we could limit No. 1 (Christine Carugati) and No. 28 (Morgan Pinado) and play team defense on everybody else and take care of the ball and not force it, that would be big. Our big line to the girls was don’t force it; they were beautiful goals to open it up. We passed the ball when we should have passed the ball and took care of it when we should have.”

Thomas credited junior Hannah Bunce and Mills with being key catalysts for the Panthers.

“Hannah took it to another level today; we tell them all the time the draw possession leads to so many good things,” said Thomas of Bunce who had six goals and four assists in the win over Pennington with sophomore Madison Mundenar adding three goals and an assist, sophomore Kyra Hall chipping in two goals and two assists, and sophomore Kate Bennett contributing a goal and three assists.

“She just got it and got untracked down here one-on-one to goal. We knew if we could spread it, we would have a one-versus-one and Hannah’s one-versus-one was on today. I don’t know how many times I have said it this year to Morgan, ‘Millsy, put it where we can play it.’”

For Thomas, it was was a very good thing to see PDS raise the level of its game to earn a second straight Prep B crown.

“We knew it would be harder to repeat; I am really, really proud of the girls,” said Thomas, whose team finished the season at 13-5.

“They are one year older, they are more experienced. They could have let it go. They could have gotten sloppy and cocky but they just kept getting better.”

Mills, for her part, believes that the versatility on attack makes the Panthers hard to beat.

“We are a pretty multi-faceted team,” said Mills. “So you look down the field and if Madison Mundenar is being face-guarded or Hannah Bunce is being face-guarded one game, it doesn’t matter because we have so many people that are willing to help them get open or make the play happen.”