(Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) caption: ON THE REBOUND: Stuart Country Day lacrosse star Elizabeth Bucklee races up the field last Friday on the way to scoring seven goals in Stuart’s 13-10 overtime loss to Morristown-Beard in the state Prep B championship game. Last Monday, Bucklee helped the Tartans rebound from the setback, scoring four goals as 10th-seeded Stuart toppled No. 2 Princeton High 11-6 in the Mercer County Tournament quarterfinals. In the wake of the win, the Tartans will host MCT semifinal matchup against third-seeded and two-time defending champion Hopewell Valley on May 13.

Stuart Lacrosse Falls in Prep B Finals but Stays Alive in County Tournament

Bill Alden

Shooting for its fifth straight state Prep B title, the Stuart Country Day lacrosse team was on target in the early going as it hosted Morristown-Beard last Friday in the championship game.

With senior star Elizabeth Bucklee scoring three goals, Stuart jumped out to a 4-2 lead.

But the Tartans sputtered after that as Mo-Beard went on a 4-1 run to take a 6-5 lead by halftime.

After an animated discussion on the field near its bench during the break, Stuart came out firing in the second half, outscoring the Crimson 4-1 to forge ahead 9-7.

Stuart’s momentum was halted, though, when senior standout Caroline Passano picked up her second card of the game with 19 minutes left in the half and was forced to sit out the rest of the contest.

Stuart went to a deliberate offensive approach but that failed to slow down Mo-Beard which scored three unanswered goals to take a 10-9 lead.

Bucklee tallied with 1:30 left in the half to knot the game at 10-10 and neither team could score over the rest of regulation and the game went into overtime.

In the extra session, a tired and frustrated Stuart team couldn’t find a rhythm, getting outscored 3-0 on the way to a 13-10 setback.

As they lined up to shake hands with their conquerors, many of the Stuart players wept as they dealt with the end of their title streak.

After wiping away a tear, Stuart head coach Sara Wagner acknowledged her team’s uneven play more than the end of the streak prompted the emotional reaction.

“I think the loss itself is disappointing because we didn’t play smart,” said Wagner.

“Physically, we did some good things and some bad things but it was our mental game that was off. We just weren’t smart today.”

The loss triggered some soul-searching with the Tartans still alive in the Mercer County Tournament.

“I told them that they have a choice,” said Wagner. “They can either lay down and not accept the challenge on Monday or they regroup this weekend and come out and show themselves that they are a better team than what they played today.”

The 10th-seeded Tartans answered their coach’s challenge as they upset No. 2 Princeton High 11-6 last Monday to advance to host an MCT semifinal matchup against third-seeded and two-time defending champion Hopewell Valley on May 13.

In the loss to Mo-Beard, the Tartans weren’t up to the challenge of playing without Passano.

“That made a huge difference,” acknowledged Wagner. “Even though Caroline might not have been playing her best game in the first half, she picked it up and in the second half we felt pretty good. After the second card, you have to rearrange things and play some of them with less experience.”

If Stuart is to topple HoVal, which beat the Tartans 12-2 in a regular season meeting last month, the less experienced players will need to pick it up.

“We are not as consistent as any of us would like,” said Wagner who got four goals apiece from Bucklee and Passano in the win over PHS as the Tartans improved to 7-7-1 on the season.

“I think it’s because sometimes our younger players step up and do really well and sometimes they don’t necessarily do their job. If they do well, we do well.”

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