COMEBACK KIDS: Princeton Day School girls’ lacrosse player Ali Surace heads to goal in recent action. Last Saturday, senior star and tri-captain Surace tallied two goals and two assists and scooped up six ground balls to help the Panthers rally from a 6-0 deficit to edge Hillsborough 12-11. PDS, which defeated the Pennington School 17-6 last Monday to improve to 3-2, plays at Haddonfield High on April 14 and at the Lawrenceville School on April 19. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

With the Princeton Day School girls’ lacrosse team trailing Hillsborough 6-0 in the first half last Saturday morning, Ali Surace lost her cool.

“I started getting a little angry and thinking I am not going to let that girl get it,” said PDS senior standout and tri-captain Surace, referring to gathering up the ball on draw controls.

“It was definitely a mentality shift for me. I am not going to let this girl beat me right now. I was going to get every ball on the ground and every ball in the air.”

PDS outscored the Raiders 5-3 over the rest of the half to shift the momentum and narrow the Hillsborough lead to 9-5.

“I think we had the energy the whole time, we knew what we needed to do,” said Surace.

“Once we started catching the balls and cleaning it up, it started to come together. I feel like the momentum was definitely there. We were trying to clean it up, win every 50/50 ball and just fight for everything.”

With Surace leading the fight, scooping up a number of ground balls to give PDS possession, the Panthers started the second half with a 7-1 run and held on for a dramatic 12-11 victory.

“I think them playing in a zone threw us off a little bit at the beginning,” said Surace.

“Once we started realizing the drive and dump was there, the cutters were there and we started working it around a little differently. That worked well.”

Surace scored the goal that put PDS up 11-10 with 7:12 left in regulation as she whipped in a shot off of a free position.

“I was just thinking about the mechanics of it, I needed to move the goalie and then I was going to figure it our from there,” said Surace, who ended up with two goals and two assists in the win and scooped up six ground balls. “A lot of it is not thinking and just feeling it.”

As a team captain along with classmates Elle Anhut and Maggie Zarish-Yasunas, Surace is looking to lead the squad in a number of ways.

“My role is to take over, whether that is my body language, fighting for the ball, speaking up, or taking it to goal,” said Surace.

“This year, I am leading by example, leading by my voice and just trying to bring the team up. Elle, Maggie and I work really well
together. It is a really great group. We do a lot behind the scenes too. We really care about this team. We have been working really hard to make it the best for them.”

Surace is looking forward to joining another team this fall as she has committed to attend Columbia University and play for its women’s lacrosse program.

“I talked to the coach, Anne Murray; she is a great person and she really brought me to school,” said Surace, who will follow in a family tradition of competing in the Ivy League as her mother, Lisa, played soccer at Princeton and her father, Bob, the head football coach at Princeton, was an All-Ivy center in his playing days.

“I have been there for my dad’s football teams so I knew of it. The team culture was so amazing and then I stepped on campus and I was like wow, I feel like I could really fit in here. The fact that I can play lacrosse there too and really compete, I am going to work so, so hard to make a difference on that team as well. I am just really excited for that in the future.”

PDS head coach Jill Thomas was excited by the win, hugging Surace in the postgame celebration and repeating “this is huge, this is huge.”

Thomas saw the triumph as a key breakthrough for the Panthers.

“That was great, as soon as we got the momentum, we weren’t giving it back,” said Thomas.

“We tried, we thought about giving it back. This was a huge step for our program, we finally beat a quality team.”

In taking that step, Surace’s hustle was a huge plus. “It started with the draws, Ali got three in a row and then we moved Tessa [Caputo] over there and they still came up with it,” said Thomas. “It was a great job coming up with the ball.”

The PDS attack showed some great balance as Paige Gardner tallied three goals and an assist in the win with Haley Sullivan scoring three goals, Tessa Caputo chipping in two goals, and Anhut contributing a goal and two assists.

“They just jelled, it was great,” said Thomas. “Paige, Tessa, Elle, and Haley did well and it was holding the ball at the end and being able to possess it and taking care of the ball.”

The squad’s young defensive unit also did well against Hillsborough.

“The defense played great the whole game,” said Thomas. “Leigh Hillmanno and Shelby Ruf came up with a couple of interceptions in there. Our defense is young but it is growing up and getting better all the time.”

Looking ahead, Thomas is hoping the comeback against Hillsborough will be a turning point for her squad.

“We have waited for this win, Clearview (a 22-14 loss on April 2) could have been it, Blair (a 16-11 loss on April 11) could have been it and now we have got it,” said Thomas, whose team went on to defeat Pennington School 17-6 on Monday to improve to 3-2 and will look to keep on the winning track as it plays at Haddonfield High on April 14 and at the Lawrenceville School on April 19.

“We have wanted this and they took it today so that is why I am thrilled for them. I have always believed but they needed this.”

Surace, for her part, believes the victory will be a game-changer for the Panthers.

“That was huge,” said Surace. “We have been playing some really great teams and we haven’t come out on top. We knew this was a game to turn it around and show that we can play against this team.”