<body><div>The Montclair Kimberley girls lacrosse team is hoping to make it a triple crown this season. The Cougars collected the Prep B Tournament championship. They also won the New Jersey Interscholastic Girls Lacrosse League Freedom White title. The Cougars (17-2) made it back-to-back Prep B Tournament title on Wednesday in defeating for the second year in a row, Princeton Day, 18-9, at home. Two days before that MKA took care of Sparta, 13-8, on the same field on May 20 to grab the Freedom White championship. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1hPTGs_0tJeQv7K00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1hPTGs_0tJeQv7K00" width="1610" height="864" ><figcaption>Montclair Kimberley girls lacrosse hold up the Prep B Tournament trophies and flash a ‘2’ sign to show the program winning back-to-back Prep B Tournament titles with a dominating 18-9 victory over Princeton Day on Wednesday (May 22). It was also the second year in a row that the Cougars defeated the Panthers for the tournament championship. (EDWARD KENSIK/STAFF)</figcaption></figure>The last piece of the triple crown is the upcoming Non-Public B tournament in which the Cougars are the second seed and looking to repeat as group champion. On Wednesday, the Montclair Kimberley girls lacrosse team pulled away this time against Princeton Day. Last season the Cougars had to sweat out each one of the battles with Princeton Day. MKA held on to defeat Princeton Day, 10-9, in the 2023 Prep B Tournament championship and then defeated the same team, 11-8, in the 2023 state tournament semifinals. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3FwdWz_0tJeQv7K00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3FwdWz_0tJeQv7K00" width="1208" height="604" ><figcaption>The Montclair Kimberley girls lacrosse team celebrates winning the 2024 Prep B Tournament championship at home. The Cougars made it back-to-back Prep B Tournament titles with a dominating 18-9 victory over Princeton Day on Wednesday (May 22). It was also the second year in a row that the Cougars defeated the Panthers for the tournament championship. (EDWARD KENSIK/STAFF)</figcaption></figure>In this year’s battle against Princeton Day, six different MKA players scored led by sophomore Shea Murphy with five goals including three in the second half. Cougars senior Aeryn Curren and freshman Bebe Scuorzo added four goals each while Shea’s twin sister, Maggie Murphy chipped in three goals. Curren recalls her first and second seasons for MKA where the Cougars fell short in winning the Prep B Tournament title. “It feels awesome, my freshman and sophomore season we lost the Prep B finals on this field,” said the senior who has 73 goals already in 2024 after the win over Princeton Day, already 15 more than in total in 2023. “It was nice to win here and to do it back-to-back.” And Shea Murphy pointed out about winning the Prep B Tournament. “It’s really fun,” said Shea Murphy about the Prep B championship. “Last year we won it for the seniors and this year if not for yourself, do it for the team.” The difference came in the second half as Montclair Kimberley held off a late first half Princeton Day comeback. The Cougars led 7-2 with four minutes remaining in the first half. Then the Panthers made a comeback to slice the MKA lead to 8-5 at halftime. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0SWTn5_0tJeQv7K00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0SWTn5_0tJeQv7K00" width="1280" height="711" ><figcaption>Montclair Kimberley senior Aeryn Curren (center) fires a shot to give the Cougars a 10-5 lead in the second half. The Cougars made it back-to-back Prep B Tournament titles with a dominating 18-9 victory over Princeton Day on Wednesday (May 22). It was also the second year in a row that the Cougars defeated the Panthers for the tournament championship. (EDWARD KENSIK/STAFF)</figcaption></figure>The Cougars struggled at the faceoff circle and made an adjustment at the faceoff circle at halftime as MKA won 11 of the 16 faceoffs in the second half. “Our coach (Chelsea Goss) had a big talk with us,” said Shea Murphy who with her sister, Maggie, took the faceoffs. “We knew that if we won the draw, we would win the game and we wanted to win the game for our seniors. We just used the half to regroup and talk about the team and what we have to do.” Along with the faceoff players, the key to winning the faceoffs are the players around the circle including Curren. “I think it was more following the ball,” said Curren. “We were getting out hustled to the ball, and they were picking up the ground balls. Our reaction time was very slow in the first half.” <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1mnQkL_0tJeQv7K00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1mnQkL_0tJeQv7K00" width="1494" height="1251" ><figcaption>The Montclair Kimberley girls lacrosse team surrounds teammate, freshman Bebe Scuorzo, who gave the Cougars an early 2-1 lead over Princeton Day. (EDWARD KENSIK/STAFF)</figcaption></figure>And it worked as sophomore twins, Maggie and Shea Murphy turned the draw from a disadvantage in the first half to an advantage in the second half. The Cougars scored five out of the next six goals to take a 13-6 lead late in the third quarter and MKA would never look back. Along with the faceoff circle, Montclair Kimberley had the advantage in goal with experienced keeper senior Orly Sedransk against Princeton Day’s inexperienced goalie Charlotte Miller. In 2023 the Cougars faced one of the top goalies in Non-Public B in Princeton Day’s graduated-senior Arden Bogle, but this season the Panthers turned to Miller who only had played sporadically this season. “Definitely, we knew that their goalie was not their strong suit this year, so we wanted to get as many shots on goal as possible,” said Curren about being aggressive on offense and shooting low against Miller. And Montclair Kimberley took advantage of the situation of the Princeton Day goalie from the start. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4AIhof_0tJeQv7K00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4AIhof_0tJeQv7K00" width="1280" height="891" ><figcaption>Montclair Kimberley girls lacrosse players celebrate around senior goalie Orly Sedransk after defeating Princeton Day, 18-9, on Wednesday (May 22) in the Prep B Tournament championship. The victory made it back-to-back Prep B Tournament titles. (EDWARD KENSIK/STAFF)</figcaption></figure>Despite losing at the faceoff circle in the first half, Murphy fired a shot by Miller to hand MKA a 7-2 lead with about four minutes remaining in the first half. The Cougars came into the Prep B final with momentum in defeating Sparta for the Freedom White title. Curren led the way with five goals and three assists. Scuorzo added three goals and an assist to defeat the Spartans. Montclair Kimberley starts its drive to repeat as the Non-Public B champion this week. The Cougars are the second seed in the Non-Public B tournament this season with Holy Spirit, the top seed. MKA defeated Holy Spirit, 14-8, in the 2023 Non-Public B championship. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2Ga62v_0tJeQv7K00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2Ga62v_0tJeQv7K00" width="1280" height="731" ><figcaption>Montclair Kimberley freshman Bebe Scuorzo (center) brings the ball over the midfield line against Princeton Day. (EDWARD KENSIK/STAFF)</figcaption></figure>Curren knows what it will take to repeat as state champions. “I think our team’s defense,” said Curren about the number one factor for another state run. “We have been working on that all season. And offense it is just not letting one person do everything and work together. I think we did a good job about that today (against Princeton Day).” </div></body>

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Montclair Kimberley Girls Lacrosse Makes it 2 Championships in 3 Days with Prep B Title

The Montclair Kimberley girls lacrosse team is hoping to make it a triple crown this season. The Cougars collected the Prep B Tournament championship. They also won the New Jersey Interscholastic Girls Lacrosse League Freedom White title. The Cougars (17-2) made it back-to-back Prep B Tournament title on Wednesday in...

Montclair Kimberley Girls Lacrosse Makes it 2 Championships in 3 Days with Prep B Title

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