Haddonfield freshman Grace Farrell puts a stamp on Haddons' fourth straight state title

WASHINGTON, Warren Co. — The state-championship-winning overtime goal was spectacular.

The one that tied the game nearly five minutes earlier was even better.

Haddonfield freshman Grace Farrell scored the last three Bulldogs goals in an 8-7 win over Mountain Lakes in Saturday’s NJSIAA Group 1 championship game. The first, on an assist from sophomore Stella Stolarick tied the game at 6. The second, on an 8-meter free position shot, made it 7-7.

On the game-winner, Chloe Gwaku found herself at the 12-meter line on a fast break, Farrell flashed up from behind the goal line. Gwaku found her and Farrell slipped a shot around the keeper with 1:59 left in OT to end the game and give the Haddons their fourth consecutive state championship.

It wouldn’t have been possible without her second goal to tie the game for the fourth and final time.

“I always practice my hard, ripper shots,” Farrell said. “I feel like that’s how I'm the most successful off of 8-meters. I looked back at my Mom for the OK to do it and I just shot it.”

Her Mom is Haddons’ offensive coordinator Lauren Farrell, a former South Jersey Attacker of the Year at Delran. And Mom isn’t the only one to have faith in the diminutive freshman.

“Oh my gosh, Grace is insane,” senior Juliet Walls said. “We do these letters to our underclassmen sometimes. I wrote her a two-page letter about how exciting it is to watch her grow and how proud we are of her. I gave her some advice in the letter. She’s just amazing. She is going to go so far. I'm so excited for her.”

Farrell had the advantage of being around the program for most of her life. Still, that’s no substitute for actually being on the field.

“It was definitely a transition from eighth grade and youth lacrosse,” Farrell said. “In high school lacrosse I kind of found my groove a few games into the season. I started to feel confident in myself because I knew like all my teammates had my back.”

Farrell has earned it.

“She had so much time watching the way we play,” Walls said. It gave her confidence coming into this and being able to just jump in and play with us.

“It was a lot like my freshman year. My sister was on the team. I was playing with the seniors that left last year for so long, that I was able to do the same thing. I knew the way they played. I knew how to come in and play. It's just awesome to see a player come right into it and do the same thing.”

Epic turnaround

Mountain Lakes won four games last spring. On Saturday, the Lakers had two one-goal leads in the closing minutes of a state championship game. The story of this season reads like fiction.

“The fact that we even made it to this game is so impressive,” Lakers senior Emily Petersen said. “I'm so proud of my team. We grew so much from last season, after only four wins last season. After last season, we knew we just didn't want a repeat of that. We worked so hard all year from the very first practice to now. I wouldn't trade this past this past year for anything with this team.”

The Lakers finished with 10 more wins than they did a year ago. The sting of an overtime loss in a state final will be just as motivating as last year was. Maybe more so.

“It's a huge testament to our character as our team, our heart, our drive, our grit,” Petersen said. “We have a lot of great seniors this year, a lot of senior leadership. We've been playing together forever. Now everyone else on the team, the underclassmen have another year of experience under their belts.”

Inside the numbers

Sophomore Stella Stolarick matched Farrell’s three goals but added three assists, one to her twin sister Lena. Gwaku’s twin sister, Lexi had nine saves including one in overtime that she cleared quickly enough to trigger the fast break goal with Farrell on the other end.

The Lakers’ seven goals came from seven different players, including five from seniors.

Flashing Neon

The Dawgs uniforms had an added flair in the state final in the form of neon scrunchies in each player’s hair, a nod to the recent NCAA women’s tournament.

“There was a UNC player (North Carolina’s Sam Geiersbach) who basically brought their whole team back in their semifinal game by herself,” Walls said. “She wore a yellow scrunchie and Boston College fans all wear neon yellow, so we just sort of combined them after the national championship games.

“We had a rain delay during one of our practices. We just started watching that game. Carolina was down like eight goals and we watched her come back and back. It was amazing. We thought, this is why we need to chip away every play, one play at a time. She gave us that inspiration.”

Against the Wall

The Haddons had a question mark in goal to begin the season. Not anymore. Sophomore Lexi Gwaku has been the team’s no-so-secret weapon.

“Oh my gosh, she's always so good,” Farrell said. “Yeah, she's amazing.”

Fearless in front of the cage, Lexi Gwaku doesn’t mind venturing beyond her prescribed circle.

“I'm speechless when I talk about Lexi,” Walls said. “She's amazing.”

Walls went on to give lie to her first thought. She was far from speechless.

“She didn't really play that much last year,” Walls said. “She came in this year and has been a brick wall. We have so much confidence in her that even if a girl beats us we know Lexi is right there. I love watching her come out and play outside the crease. That's my favorite thing.”

Tom Rimback, sports reporter

Tom Rimback grew up reading the Burlington County Times and Courier Post sports sections and began writing for the BCT in 1996. He has covered everything from Super Bowls and Final Fours to Tri-County Swimming but he’s happiest on a sideline interviewing South Jersey scholastic athletes for the Burlington County Times, the Courier Post and The Daily Journal. Follow him on twitter @RimbackBCT. Email him with story ideas at trimback@thebct.com and, most importantly, support local journalism with a subscription.

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This article originally appeared on Burlington County Times: Freshman Grace Farrell hat trick gives Haddonfield 4th lacrosse crown