irls Lax: Mendham 12 - Chatham 7(4-17-07)

Mendham holds off ChathamMessinger six goals & Kyla Dambach 10 saves lead NJ’s #2 team.

By Coach Carchietta for MorrisCountyVaristy.net

Chatham, NJ - In match-up between two of The Star Ledger’s top 12 teams, momentum seemed to change with weather. #2 Mendham and #12 Chatham battled between spurts of sprinkles and heavy rain drops. Mendham was able to hold off a monumental second half Cougar comeback and secure an impressive 12-7 victory.Senior Kaitlyn Messinger scored six times, four in the 1st to lead the Minuteman past Chatham. Lauren Dykstra added three goals and Maggie Smith contributed with a goal and an assist. In a time of desperation and pressure such as the final 5-minutes of this match-up, strong senior-laden teams rely on their seniors for direction. The senior trio exploded for four goals in the final 5 minutes to halt a colossal comeback by the Cougars. With the score 8-7 in favor of Mendham, after leading 7-2 at the half, Maggie Smith scored 5:11 remaining in the 2nd. Kaitlyn Messinger added her sixth goal, and second of the half, to give Mendham a three goal advantage. Three sports standout Lauren Dykstra recorded the final two goals of the game. Mendham Coach Jessica Shoulberg was very proud of her teams’ ability not to cave and hold off the strong Chatham offensive: “Senior Leadership! They wanted that game.”The game was supposed to be played in Mendham, but the pounding rain all weekend provoked the move to play the game at Chatham. Mendham controlled the tempo early as a heavy rain soaked the perfect turf at Hass Field in Chatham. Dykstra opened the scoring 3:29 into the game. Messinger followed with two goals of her own to give Mendham a 3-0 lead and forcing Chatham to take a time out with 18:13 left in the first. A well-timed break in momentum helped stall Mendham’s early scoring spurt. An exchange in quality saves by both keepers allowed Chatham to work the ball back up into the Mendham zone. Lauren Murray converted after being set up by Anna Valle. Valle fed Murray from behind the net for the open look, cutting the lead to 3-1. Megan Kelly answered less than two minutes later as Mendham regained the 3-goal lead. Caitlin Kelly and Messinger added goals as Mendham increased their lead to 6-1. Murray recorded her second goal with 7:04 on the clock leaving Chatham down 6-2. Messinger closed the scoring the half with just over 5 minutes remaining. Mendham’s keeper Kyla Dambach held the call for nearly three minutes, enabling the Minutemen to wind the clock and take a 7-2 lead into half-time.The heavy rain has subsided and the momentum had found the Cougars. Danielle Van Fossan scored two goal sandwiched around a goal by Meghan Murray. The three goal spurt moved Chatham within two. Leading 7-5, but trying to defend a swarming offensive attack, Mendham was able to break up the Cougar’s scoring barrage. Messinger’s 5th of the game gave Mendham an all-important 8-5 advantage. Mendham’s Head Coach Kaitlyn Shoulberg on Chatham’s determination and strength as the Cougars outscored Mendham 5-1 in the opening 11 minutes of the second half: “(Chatham) got the momentum going and did a good job not giving up,” Attacker Lauren Murray and the Cougars were not done. The junior tallied the next two Chatham goals closing the deficit to one goal, 8-7. That’s as close as the Cougars could get, as … again … the rain began to fall harder and the Minutemen used one last rush to turn Chatham away. Mendham improved to 5-0 on the season as junior keeper Kyla Dambach turned away 10 shots, almost all quality scoring chances. This was Chatham’s first loss of the season. O'Keefe, Kathy and Gianna Spinelli combined for 10 saves for the 4-1 Cougars.