Ocean girls quietly keep winning lacrosse games
By doug mckenzie
Staff Writer

The Ocean Township girls lacrosse team may be undefeated, but head coach Donna DeNoble is still talking about the team’s potential.

She’s not disappointed in the Spartans’ play in any way, as they’ve given her no reason to be. She just wants her team to accomplish everything it is capable of, and knows that the girls will need to play their best lacrosse of the season the rest of the way to do that.

"If you would have asked me at the start of the season if I thought we’d be this successful, I wouldn’t have been sure," the first-year coach said. "I didn’t really anticipate this. I’m just so impressed with these players.

"We are a young, athletic team, and there is just so much potential on the team."

The Spartans improved to 13-0-1 on Monday with an 11-7 Shore Conference Tournament opening-round win over Toms River East. Ocean is the third seed in the tournament, behind top-ranked Shore Regional and Jackson.

DeNoble, who took over the program for Rusty Todd, the school’s new athletic director, understood that her team faced some high expectations this year, coming off back-to-back A North Division championships. But she thought the season would be more of a learning process than it has been.

"I only have four seniors after graduating eight from last year’s team, including Heather George, the top goal-scorer in the Shore," she said. "But this team has some really talented young players who have really stepped it up big time thus far."

Offensively, the Spartans are multi-dimensional.

"A lot of girls can score on this team," DeNoble said.

Leading the attack is junior center Jeanette Villapiano, who entered Wednesday’s second-round SCT game against St. Rose with 47 goals and eight assists.

"Jeanette is the offensive leader, but when teams try to shut her down, we have other players who can step up," DeNoble said. "She is just an awesome player, so fast and smart."

Senior left attack wing Shana Smeriglio is among that group, with 31 goals and 14 assists entering Wednesday’s action. Heather George’s younger sister, Amanda, a sophomore who plays third home, has shown that talent runs in the family as she has contributed 26 goals thus far.

Add to the mix junior second home Caitlin Meseroll’s 22 goals and 24 assists, and you can see why the Spartans have not suffered from a lack of offense.

Other players who help create the offense include senior first home Samantha Sher, and right attack wing Ally McLaren, who has done an excellent job filling in for the injured Michelle Lewis.

Defensively, the Spartans are led by sophomore Tara Klein, who plays in the third man spot.

"She is such a leader out there," DeNoble said. "She plays hard all the time, but really steps it up for us in big games."

She is joined by a slew of talented defensive players, including junior left defense wing Jenn Flannery, freshman right defense wing Nataglia Farrell, senior cover point Cate Lutz and senior point Joanna Antisell.

In goal is junior Loan Nguyen, a player who DeNoble said is getting better which each game.

"Lately, Loan has been playing great," she said. "She struggled a bit early on, but she has made some great saves recently to keep us in games. She’s another player who has really stepped up for us."

That list of players seems to be growing with each game.

"I’m just so happy with the way the team has progressed this year," DeNoble said. "A lot of the younger players had some big shoes to fill, and they’ve done it."

The Spartans are looking forward to the upcoming state tournament as well, after being knocked out in the second round by a strong Shawnee team last year.

"They’re awesome again this year, and we’re likely to see them again if we win our first-round game," DeNoble said.

As for the Shore Conference Tournament, the Spartans are hoping to have a chance to battle the Shore’s top two teams. While both Shore and Jackson have losses this year, they have come to teams outside the Shore Conference, and DeNoble understands why they are perceived as the top two teams.

"Defensively, both teams would be a very tough match-up for us," she said. "Shore has a lot of seniors with big-game experience back, and they’re going to be tough for anyone to beat this year.

"We scrimmaged Jackson early on, so we know how to play them. But it would take a very good game to beat them. We would have to play to our potential."

And there’s that word again. It seems odd to think of a team’s potential when it has played 14 games without a loss. But the Spartans’ biggest tests lie ahead, and this young group of talented players is looking forward to proving its coach prophetic.