The Ridge high school boys lacrosse team defeated Princeton 10-5 in the semi-finals of the NJSIAA North 2, Group 4 State Tournament held Tursday afternoon on Lee Field at Ridge. Mike Hellstern led the Tigers with two goals.
IN SHORT
The Ridge Red Devils came out like the weather: hot. But it was Princeton that scored first when Mike Hellstern fired it home just 33 seconds into the game. Connor Meth scored the equalizer at the 8:53 mark in the same period. Kirby Peck added another goal for Princeton 2 minutes later. But when Ridge's Kevin Kelly added goals at 2:44 and 1:48, Ridge never trailed again. Kelly went on to add 3 more goals in the game. Goalie Griffin Peck (Princeton) faced 21 shots and had 17 saves in the game and his counterpart TJ Jones had 11 saves on 23 shots.
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KEY PERFORMANCES
Mike Hellstern - Hellstern scored 2 goals for the Tigers; Griffin Peck - Peck played a great game in goal against the potent offese of Ridge, Peck had 17 saves facing 21 shots; Kevin Kelly - Kelly tallied 5 goals and 2 assists for Ridge
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COACH'S TAKE
"As always, we play hard. Ridge is a team that has a lot of weapons, everyone on the field can catch and throw and shoot. They play the game at a lot faster pace than we are used to. In most games, you try to take someone out of the game and you have an advantage, with Ridge, they have somebody else to step up and take their place." - Princeton head coach Peter Stanton
"We never played this team before so knowledge of the opponent was limited. We knew we would have a fight on our hands. I am really happy we finished the game. Our depth really helped us win today." - Ridge head coach Ken Marsh
