St. Anthony's girls lacrosse rallies for win over Chatham (NJ) after early deficit

Maybe for the first time all season, the No. 1 girls lacrosse team in the country appeared vulnerable. But the St. Anthony’s girls lacrosse team regrouped following being shut out and trailing by five goals after the first quarter to prove exactly why the Friars are the top-ranked program in the nation.

St. Anthony’s scored three goals over a span of 21 seconds to begin a stretch of 10 unanswered goals to catapult the Friars to a 13-7 victory over Chatham (New Jersey) in non-league girls lacrosse play at the Gains for Brains Showcase at Cold Spring Harbor High School on Saturday afternoon. St. Anthony’s, ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Lacrosse, trailed 5-0 after the first quarter before taking a 7-5 lead into halftime.

“We just keep our foot on the gas and never give up when we’re down,” senior midfielder Molly Hiney said. “I think our competitiveness, energy and the way we can shift a game make us super dangerous.”

“All credit to Chatham,” coach Darcy Messina said. “They are really well coached and they have a lot of stud athletes on that team and they were working their systems really well in the first quarter. We certainly had to make adjustments.”

Cameron Pupke struck first as six different St. Anthony’s players scored the team’s first six goals. Emma Speed scored with 4:24 left in the second quarter to give St. Anthony’s its first lead and Anna Christie caused a turnover and scored 30 seconds later to give the Friars a 7-5 advantage entering halftime.

“It definitely shifted the whole team’s energy and the vibe,” Speed said. “We had to remind ourselves after the first quarter to take no plays off and play 100% the whole game. We had to remind ourselves how we play and how St. Anthony’s lacrosse plays.”

After goals from Pupke and Christie, Hiney secured a draw control and scored St. Anthony’s second goal in nine seconds to cut Chatham’s lead to 5-3. She finished with two goals and two assists and Christie had three goals, including scoring twice during St. Anthony’s 7-0 first-half run.

“We know everyone’s going to give us their best game but we try to just focus on us,” Hiney said. “We try to just play our way and our defense in the second quarter really shut them down. It got our momentum going.”

Chatham (8-1) entered No. 16 in the nation.

“They came out strong and we knew they would because obviously with good teams playing against each other, everyone’s going to give it their all,” Hiney said. “We just needed to adjust, make some changes and we came back stronger.”

St. Anthony’s (9-0) scored the first three goals of the third quarter, to extend their run to 10-0. Katherine Rathjen and Speed each had two goals and an assist.

The Gains for Brains Showcase has raised more than $80,000 since 2015 to support the Making Headway Foundation, which benefits children with brain and spinal cord tumors.

“We’re so lucky to play for something so meaningful in this tournament,” Hiney said. “And playing great teams on top of that is an extra bonus.”