Montclair Kimberley girls lacrosse aims to show that Prep B title was not a fluke

Montclair Kimberley wants to show that the Prep B championship was not just a one-time thing.

The Cougars will have a rematch of the 2023 Prep B title match on Tuesday, June 6 (3:30 p.m.), at home against Princeton Day in the Non-Public B semifinals with a trip to the finals on the line.

Montclair Kimberley defeated Princeton Day, 10-9, on the road in the Prep B title game on May 12. 

This time the battle will be in Montclair, but the Cougars will be facing a Panthers team that has scored 36 goals in the two games in the state playoffs before facing the Cougars. Montclair Kimberley (14-7) has outscored their state opponents by a total of 26-9 while Princeton Day (13-7) has allowed 11 goals in the state tournament.

MKA junior Aeryn Curren, the team leader in goals with 49, said the Cougars need to repeat what they did in the Prep B final, which was win faceoffs as well as staying clean – reducing fouls and penalties.

“I think draws are going to be big for us again,” said Curren, who had five goals in the Prep B title match. “We won a lot of draws and that’s what gave us a lot of opportunities. We didn’t commit a lot of fouls last time. We need to do that again and at the same time not lose our intensity.”

Also, the Montclair Kimberley defense shut down the Princeton Day top scorer, Tessa Caputo. Caputo leads the Panthers with 79 goals going into the Non-Public B semifinal, but the Cougars defense limited her to only two goals in the Prep B final.

While third-seeded Princeton Day defeated sixth-seeded Villa Walsh, 18-7, in the section quarterfinals, second-seeded Montclair Kimberley had a tougher time against one of their non-public rivals, seventh-seeded Morristown-Beard, 9-6, on Saturday, in their state quarterfinal contest. Freshman Maggie Murphy led the way for the Cougars with four goals.

It was a tough, physical win over Morristown-Beard and wasn’t put in the win column until about six minutes remaining in the match when Curren sent a shot past Crimson goalie Keira Redmond, for a Cougars 8-5 lead. 

Curren believed that this contest against Morristown-Beard was going to be tougher compared to the dominating 15-6 victory over the Panthers in the Prep B Tournament on May 8. “I knew that they would come back with a lot of energy because they had had nothing to lose,” Curren said.

There were similarities in the two games against Morristown-Beard. In the first half of the Prep B game, the Cougars led by only 5-3. In the state game on Saturday, they were ahead by only 4-3.

But the differences ended there as Montclair Kimberley scored 10 goals in the second half of the Prep B game. 

This time though in the Non-Public B quarterfinal, Montclair Kimberley actually found themselves tied with the Crimson at five with less than 17 minutes left in the match.

After a called timeout by MKA head coach Chelsea Goss, MKA was able to regain the momentum. 

“We weren’t winning a lot of draws in the first half and we needed to come out with more intensity,” Curren said. Two of the three Murphys, senior Caroline and freshman Maggie, were able to take charge in the faceoff circle the rest of the way in the second half.

The Cougars scored four of the final five goals and MKA showed its depth with a goal each from Curren, Maggie Murphy, junior Maddie Polanskyj and senior Siena Davis, to help the Cougars advance to the semifinals.