TOURNAMENT RUN: Princeton Day School girls’ lacrosse player Jesse Hollander sprints upfield in recent action. Last Wednesday, junior midfield Hollander tallied one goal and three assists to help third-seeded PDS defeat 14th-seeded Morris Catholic 18-4 in the first round of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Non-Public Group B tournament. On Saturday, Hollander chipped in two goals and two assists as the Panthers defeated sixth-seeded Villa Walsh 18-7 in a Group B quarterfinal contest. PDS, who improved to 13-7 with the win, was slated to play at second-seeded Montclair Kimberley Academy on June 6 in a semifinal matchup with the victor advancing to the final on June 9. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Jesse Hollander and her teammates on the Princeton Day School girls’ lacrosse team had plenty of motivation as they hosted Morris Catholic last Wednesday in the first round of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Non-Public Group B tournament.

PDS was seeing its first action since getting knocked out of the Mercer County Tournament and Prep B state tourney a week and a half earlier and was playing its final game on Smoyer Field before its turf gets replaced.

“We came off a couple of bad losses, we took a break, we had a nice long weekend, and we had a very serious practice yesterday,” said junior midfielder Hollander. “Everybody was focused, we did some good transition work. It is our last game on this Smoyer Field — we wanted a good win.”

The third-seeded Panthers, the defending Non-Public Group B champion, got off to a good start against 14th-seeded Morris Catholic, jumping out to an 11-0 halftime lead.

“I think that was necessary to get our mojo back after those losses,” asserted Hollander. “It was nice that we were working together. Today, we were passing it; we were working our plays, which is really important.”

Hollander, who has emerged as a key offensive catalyst this year after focusing on defense in 2022, ended up tallying one goal and three assists as the Panthers cruised to an 18-4 win.

“Three assists is pretty good,” said Hollander with a smile. “We were getting in the right spot for the plays to happen with assists, which was good.”

On Saturday, Hollander was in the right spot again, chipping in two goals and two assists as the Panthers defeated sixth-seeded Villa Walsh 18-7 in a Group B quarterfinal contest. PDS, who improved to 13-7 with the win, was slated to play at second-seeded Montclair Kimberley Academy on June 6 in a semifinal matchup with the victor advancing to the final on June 9.

After scoring nine points on four goals and five assists in 2022, Hollander has tallied 44 points so far this year with 31 goals and 13 assists. That increase in production is the fruit of some hard work Hollander put in over the offseason.

“I did a lot of lacrosse over the summer; I worked a lot on my shooting and that helped with my confidence for shooting,” said Hollander, who also stars for the PDS girls’ cross country team. “I have a club team and stuff. I got a lot of practice on the draws this summer so I came in ready. I felt a lot more confident in going to goal which has been really helpful. I have gotten better at understanding the attack.”

As Hollander has taken on a greater role on attack, she has not neglected her defensive responsibilities, gobbling up ground balls for the Panthers.

“We have been working a lot on talking on defense, working on our slides and doubling and stuff,” said Hollander. “We were having good success with pressuring out and getting turnovers.”

In Hollander’s view, rolling to the win over Morris Catholic bodes well for another successful Non-Public run.

“This was a good way to start our last tournament, end of postseason,” said Hollander. “I think this will help push us to the end and hopefully get the win again.”

PDS head coach Tracy Young thought that ending the run on the Smoyer surface helped push her players to a big performance.

“They were fired up, it is the last day on this turf,” said Young. “They will be ripping it up first thing tomorrow, they have already started moving cages to get it ready. The girls were feeling that that they didn’t want the last game on this field to be a loss.”

Young credited Hollander with being a catalyst to a balanced offensive effort.

“Jess has had a phenomenal year, she stepped up big today,” said Young, reflecting on the win which saw Tessa Caputo tally five goals and four assists with Kelly Christie chipping in three goals and Sophie Jaffe contributing two goals and one assist. “Kelly stepped up big for us. The scoring was so well spread. We had almost every attack player who had at least one in the net today and even a couple of defenders.”

The Panther defense has raised the level of its play. “They are playing so, so well together,” said Young, whose goalie Arden Bogle had four saves against Morris Catholic and then had seven more against Villa Walsh to pass the 300-save milestone in her career. “We have been working a lot on our defensive slides. I think that is the biggest piece that has really, really come together. They are sliding so well and then they are talking. When they do that, they are a tough team to get through.”

While the Panthers face a tough test in the semis against MKA, a team that edged them 10-9 in the Prep B state final on May 12, Young believes that her squad has what it takes to defend its Non-Public Group B crown.

“If we can play clean with no cards and if we can play well and together, we are a hard team to beat,” said Young, who got a personal best nine goals from Caputo in the win over Villa Walsh. “If we continue to do what we did today with shot selection and coming up with the draw, we could be on a really good side of it.”

Hollander, for her part, is confident that PDS will keep playing well to the end.

“We need to continue to work together, we were having a hard time this year losing the ball on transition with the turnovers,” said Hollander. “It is working on that and just making sure that we are passing it and moving on attack and that we are working our plays. If we do all of those things, we will have pretty good success.”