Reilly Fletcher leads Lawrenceville girls lacrosse over West Windsor-Plainsboro North, 19-8

LAWRENCEVILLE – A year ago when Lawrenceville's girls lacrosse team played West Windsor-Plainsboro North it was for a spot in the Mercer County Tournament final and it was the Northern Knights that came away with the victory.

On Friday, it was payback by the Big Red when it prepared for the game like it was the same squad that beat them last May.

This year’s WW-P North is not the same, but that did not seem to matter to Lawrenceville, because it came out fired up and did not have much trouble in earning a 19-8 victory.

The winners jumped out to a 3-0 lead after Reilly Fletcher scored and Jane Kirby added two goals just 3:15 into the contest. The Knights responded, but they could not handle the outstanding offensive display Lawrenceville put on in building a 12-6 halftime lead.

“We lost to them last year and the year before that, so this was a great win,” said Fletcher, a sophomore who is the sister of Connor Fletcher, a standout for the Princeton Day School boys team. “I’ve always worked on my shot with my brother and he’s always pushed me and it’s made me better.

“I feel like I contribute to the team more than I did last year and my confidence level has really gone up since my freshman year. We’ve got a great attack and our scoring is distributed over multiple people and that really helps us. I played low attack last year and this is my first year playing middie.”

Fletcher finished with seven goals and four assists, but she wasn’t the only Lawrenceville player who stood out for coach Kris Schulte. Chloe Jones finished with four goals and when Jane Kirby (five goals) scored with 15:03 in the second half to put her team up 15-7, it gave the senior 225 goals in her career, establishing her as the top scorer in Big Red history.

“We’ve been told it’s a new scoring record,” said the Lafayette-bound Kirby, who finished with six goals in the game for 227 in her career. “This was a great win, but it wasn’t like last year’s game, which was a very intense game. This year we didn’t know what to expect, so we just came out with guns firing.

“I’ve had a very successful career here and obviously I couldn’t have done it without my teammates and coaches or my family. I still want my career here to keep going. MAPL’s are down, we won them, we’re second seed for states and we should get a good seed for the MCT’s.”

North came in down three standout starters, then lost standout defender Vic L’Insalata with an ankle injury, leaving coach Beth Serughetti scrambling for a solid line up in the second half. It didn’t matter, as Lawrenceville kept the pressure on in outscoring the Knights by a 7-2 margin for the win.

“I was so impressed with Lawrenceville. They really move with speed. They play as a nice unit,” Serughetti said. “Our first half I thought we played pretty well and I thought that if we were smart with possessions in the second half we could have made it a better game, but we weren’t smart with possessions.

“I know they looked at it as playing our team from last year, but every team does. We’re not the same team as last year and that’s not a knock on our current team. We’re just going to keep working to get better and get ready for the MCT and states.”