With Senior Star Foster Excited for Final Push, PDS Girls’ Lacrosse Advances to Prep B Semis
When Morgan Foster fired in a shot off a free position play for the Princeton Day School girls’ lacrosse team to give it a 6-6 tie against Hopewell Valley last Saturday, it looked like the contest was destined to be a nailbiter.
But HoVal responded with a 5-1 run to take an 11-7 halftime lead and never looked back on the way to a 19-9 win.
While senior star attacker Foster was disappointed with the result, she was proud of how the Panthers fought to the end.
“We were in it; I think that sometimes we need to realize that a full lacrosse game is 50 minutes,” said Foster, who tallied two goals in the defeat.
“We want to be a two-half team. I think everyone was working their hardest. The chips didn’t fall our way today. We have some things that we need to clean up.”
On Monday, things did go PDS’s way as the first-seeded Panthers topped No. 8 Morristown-Beard 18-9 in the state Prep B quarterfinals with Foster chipping in four goals.
“I think our goal right now is to make sure that we extend our season as long as possible,” said Foster, who is heading to Hamilton College where she will be playing for its women’s lacrosse program. “We definitely have May 11 (the Prep B final) circled on the calendar.”
Foster and classmate, star goalie Kirsten Kuzmicz, the only seniors on the squad, are looking to set a positive tone for their younger teammates.
“At this point, I am playing for Kirsten and I hope that Kirsten is playing for me,” asserted Foster.
“I think that part of getting everybody excited for the game is to make sure that everyone knows that they are playing for each other and that there is somebody out there working harder than you are. You want to work hard for the person next to you. That is a big thing that we try to implement so that everybody is working for somebody else.”
Foster enjoyed a big moment when she scored her 100th career goal in a 14-11 loss to Blair on April 22.
“That was so exciting, that was something I didn’t know was coming up,” said Foster.
“I knew that the game beforehand that I was close but I wasn’t counting on it. It was really nice but unfortunately we lost that game to Blair. There was a bit of a silver lining.”
PDS head coach Jill Thomas saw a silver lining in the way the Panthers battled in the loss to HoVal.
“We played some very good lacrosse at times today from the start,” said Thomas.
“We limited the number of unforced turnovers, I still think that we had too many. We didn’t get the ground balls on dropped balls, we made bad decisions with the ball, things like that. It is little stuff, fixable stuff and that is a good team that we played.”
Thomas likes the way that Foster has developed into a very good leader for PDS.
“Morgan has really taken her leadership skills and put them into offensive sets and plays,” said Thomas. “She settles them and makes the extra pass. She has had some really good assists, she is a much more complete player.
Heading into the final weeks of the season, Thomas is looking for the Panthers to play a more complete game collectively.
“We just need to clean up those little things and bring our best to the field every day and take them one at a time,” said Thomas, whose team will host a Prep B semifinal game on May 4 and is also competing in the Mercer County Tournament where it is seeded ninth and will play at No. 8 Hightstown in an opening round contest.
Foster, for her part, is determined to bring her best as she wraps up her PDS career.
“I am getting more sad that this year is coming to a close,” said Foster. “I have never won a tournament here at Princeton Day School. I really have my sights set on the Prep Bs right now, that is something I am really looking forward to.”