(Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) VOCAL LEADER: Princeton High girls' lacrosse senior midfielder Becca Schild sounds off in action last season. The leadership provided by two-time captain Schild has helped PHS get off to a 4-2 start this spring.

With Schild Providing Vocal Leadership, PHS Girls' Lax Aims to be More Focused

Bill Alden

For about 10 minutes in its game against WW/P-N last week, the Princeton High School girls' lacrosse team gave a glimpse of how potent it can be."

PHS reeled off nine straight goals in the first half as it turned a 2-1 deficit into a 10-2 lead. But the Little Tigers let up a bit and WW/P-N closed the half with five unanswered goals."

In the second half, the Little Tigers got goals from Becca Schild and Carly Edgcomb to hold off the Northern Knights and earn a 12-10 victory."

In assessing PHS' performance, two-time captain Schild acknowledged that it was a mixed bag. "We started the game off really sound," said Schild, who had one goal and an assist as PHS improved to 4-2 on the season. "We were trying to perfect some things from the previous two games. We kind of lost our intensity in the second half. We lost it a bit but we pulled it out."

In Schild's view, getting the win over WW/P-N on a day when PHS didn't play its best represented progress even though the Little Tigers had posted romps over Ewing and Nottingham in its previous two outings."

"North is an older program than Ewing and Nottingham, they have been around a lot longer," added Schild, who helped PHS edge WW/P-N 16-15 last spring. "It's always one of our big games. It's great to know that we can come back a second year and beat them again."

Schild said her game-winning goal came in the flow of the offense. "I just try to get around people and not get stick-checked," said Schild. "The team is great at breaking up double teams and knowing when to shoot. Our attack is a very strong point of this team."

The midfield star is confident the PHS offense will get better and better as the season goes on. "I think we are starting to find a rhythm; we're starting to get our confidence up," said Schild. "We know what we need to work on and how we can perfect things. We just can't lose our intensity."

Longtime PHS head coach Joyce Jones acknowledged that her team had some lapses against WW/P-N. "We had a slow start and then we started controlling the ball," said Jones, who got three goals from Elizabeth Price and two from Allegra Formento in the win over WW/P-N.

"The fast break was there and everything was clicking. I think one of things the team hasn't learned is how to do that consistently.

In the second half, we stopped doing what we had been doing in the first. We have not been a second half team."

With her team having won four straight, Jones is confident that things are heading in the right direction. "I think the consistency will come," asserted Jones."

"I think its also about taking time; when you're up by two goals with five minutes left, you need to be patient. We need consistency and composure. If you get some calls that don't go your way, you have let it go and stay in the game."

Jones is looking to her core of seniors to settle things down on the field. "Becca is a two-time captain," said Jones. "We're also looking to the other key seniors. The goalie has to be there and Erin [Hoerner] has been playing great. She had some great saves today. We were also good on the double teams today with Isabella [Formento] playing in the midfield. Allegra was good and Liz Haughton had some nice plays."

PHS is looking to bottle the lacrosse it displayed in its 9-0 run against WW/P-N. "It was great lacrosse," said a grinning Jones whose team plays at Hopewell Valley on April 28 and at Stuart Country Day on April 30. "Whatever it takes to do that is what we're looking for. Most coaches say take it one game at a time, we're going to take it each half of a half and be in the moment."

Schild and her co-captains, Haughton, Sarah Wright, and Allegra Formento, are determined to provide the vocal leadership to help keep PHS focused."

"I have three great girls with me," said Schild, referring to her co-captains. "They have been on the team for a while and played a lot last year. It's only more support and cheers on the field. We love to have a positive atmosphere out there. We try to communicate. It's a good game when we come off the field with our voices lost."

Hopefully for PHS, the Little Tiger players will spend much of the spring with hoarse voices."

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