In a NJIGLL Freedom Conference South division clash, the Verona Lady Hillbillies overcame the Morristown Beard school by a score of 11-6 last Thursday to improve their league record to a perfect 3-0 and an overall record of 6-1.
The Verona effort was led by the two Maggies, senior Maggie Ashley and sophomore Maggie Lonsinger, who combined for four goals and five assists to power the Verona offensive effort. After Lonsinger scored Verona’s first two goals to tie the score at 2-2, Ashley sparked a four-goal run by Verona with two of her game-high four assists on goals by juniors Sarah Carlucci and Julia Mackey, followed by a goal from senior Cecilia “CC” Courter, to widen the Verona lead to 6-2.
Ashley Nigro scored 2 goals in Verona’s win over Morristown-Beard, including this one from a jump pass by CC Courter. pic.twitter.com/rCA0HgpPAM
— MyVeronaNJ (@myveronanj) April 14, 2018
Morristown Beard was able to close the gap to 6-4 with just a few minutes left before halftime until Verona goalie sophomore Skyler Freedman, who totaled 10 saves in the contest, stepped up her game and stopped three shots, all at point-blank range, to preserve a two-goal lead for Verona as the first-half buzzer sounded.
Verona would quickly take a 7-4 lead at the start of the second half on a Lonsinger draw control then line drive assist to Mackey as she rounded the near goal post. Morristown Beard would not go down without a fight though, scoring the next two goals to pull within 7-6.
Courter’s second draw control of the game stopped Mo Beard’s run and quickly turned into another goal for Verona as Ashley fired top shelf to get the Hillbillies back to a two goal lead at 8-6. Senior Ashley Nigro would make it 9-6 with a successful free position goal and then cashed in a second score soon thereafter from a jump pass from Courter over three defenders to make it 10-6 Verona cushion with 11 minutes remaining.
Maggie Ashley threaded the needle through Mo-Beard’s defense to set up Emily Coppola’s score—the final goal of the 11-6 @veronaglax win Thursday. pic.twitter.com/n3zTiuYDbz
— MyVeronaNJ (@myveronanj) April 14, 2018
Ashley’s fourth assist of the game threaded the needle through the Crimson’s defense to find junior Emily Coppola in front of the net for Verona’s final tally and what would be the last score of the game, elevating Verona to an 11-6 lead.
Verona, Montclair Kimberly and Madison now remain the only undefeated teams in the Freedom Conference-South.
