Kendall Bennett gets five of the 17 goals for Shore

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

Shore Regional junior Kendall Bennett (17) scored five of the Blue Devils goals in the 17-4 win over Haddon Township.

Wednesday, May 29, was a championship day at Shore Regional High School. Four athletic teams were competing in a NJSIAA quarterfinal round. All four teams won and advanced to the semifinals.

In the girls’ South Jersey, Group 1 lacrosse tournament, Kendall Bennett scored five of the Blue Devils 17 goals in the win over Haddon Township.

Shore Regional entered the tournament as the fourth seed. They hosted thirteen seed Haddon Heights in the opening round easily beating them 18-12. That victory set up the quarterfinal match with twelfth seed Haddon Township.

In the first quarter, Shore took a 3-1 lead. They outscored the Hawks 4-1 and took a 7-1 lead into the halftime break. The short rest must have really energized the Blue Devils as they scored seven goals in the third quarter and held Haddon Township scoreless. The final quarter of action had the Blue Devils up 3-2 taking the dominating 17-4 win.

Bennett, junior midfielder, was the leading scorer for the Blue Devils. On the season, she has 35 goals and 16 assists. With her three years on varsity her career goals are 75 with 44 assists. In the win over Haddon Township, Bennett also had one draw control and two ground balls.

Senior Conley Smolokoff, who plays both midfield and defense, scored four goals and assisted on three. This season she has 59 goals and 17 assists. Over her four years on varsity she has a career-high 119 goals and 37 assists, 42 ground balls and 48 draw controls.

Scoring two goals each were junior Gabby O’Brien, who also had two assists and freshman Ava Matthews, who assisted on three goals and Marielle Montenegro who had one assist.

Junior attacker and midfielder Cami Grella had one goal, two assists and three ground balls. Also getting a single goal was Claudia Bufano, freshman attacker. In the goal for the Blue Devils was Sofia Merten, junior goalkeeper, who had six saves. In her three years on varsity she has made 435 saves to date.

Shore Regional will now be on the road as they travel to Glen Ridge on June 3, where they will face the top seed at 3:00 p.m. in the semifinals. The other half of the bracket will have third seed Madison facing the two seed Bulldogs from Rumson-Fair Haven.

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