By Anthony Caruso
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 7/10/17
TABERNACLE, N.J. – Winning its first championship was special for the HEADstrong Girls’ Lacrosse Club.
Nicole Chiappa scored four goals and Alexa Juska added three Sunday as HEADstrong defeated Lanco Elite, 10-8, to win the 2020 title at the Victory Events Girls’ Summer Slam at Seneca High School.
“We’re a relatively new program as this is our second summer season,” said HEADstrong coach Debbie White. “Most of the girls play all year long and we’re really building the program up.
“It’s great that these girls have been working all year long to win this championship. This is our last tournament for the summer, and it’s really nice to end it on top.”
HEADstrong finished the tournament with a perfect 6-0 record. In the second game on Saturday, HEADstrong also defeated Lanco Elite 12-7. Lanco Elite’s only losses were to HEADstrong.
“It feels very good to win it,” said Chiappa. “We played a lot of teams who have a lot of good, talented girls.”
Lanco Elite began the second half with back-to-back goals by Emily Heck and Emily Hall to seize a 6-5 lead. HEADstrong responded with four straight goals to take command.
“We definitely have to give them credit, because they’re a well-coached team,” White said. “They do a great job of spreading the ball around.
“The center (Emily Hall) is phenomenal. Our centers had a tough time guarding her. We were lucky that we were able to overcome deficits and have a nice team game again. It was a little bit closer this time around. We’re lucky to come out on top.”
Both teams went back and forth early in the game. Juska gave HEADstrong the 3-2 lead before Alison Houtz tied the game at 3. Juska and Chiappa scored back-to-back goals for the 5-3 before Emma Leister scored right before halftime for the 5-4 score.
“It’s really nerve-racking because we faced this team before,” Chiappa said. “We beat them heavily [on Saturday], so for this to be a close game, it was definitely nerve-racking. We had to bring our heads back into the game.”
Julia Reardon, Maddie Hippensteal and Casey Cavanaugh each scored once for HEADstrong.
“I thought it was a very well played game since they’re my friends,” said Chiappa. “We know them pretty well.
“This is our last tournament together for the summer. We worked really well as a team together. I’ll remember these girls and what we did [on Sunday].”
HEADstrong
Nicole Chiappa 4 goals
Alexa Juska 3 goals
Julia Reardon 1 goal
Maddie Hippensteal 1 goal
Casey Cavanaugh 1 goal
Lanco Elite
Emily Hall 3 goals
Alison Houtz 1 goal
Emma Leister 1 goal
Emily Heck 1 goal
Zoe Shephard 1 goal
Kiersten Ellsworth 1 goal01
