4/5/2010 - Girls Lacrosse Has New Look
When it comes to girls lacrosse in North Jersey, Vernon head coach Steve Carlson is a man in the know.
So when I heard that girls lacrosse was affected by realignment and had become a recognized sport in the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference, I figured I would give him a buzz and get his thoughts.
Little did I know that not only had girls lacrosse joined the ranks of the NJAC, but the teams in the Mugs Media area are also playing in the newly-formed North Jersey Interscholastic Girls Lacrosse League, according to Carlson, and that has made life confusing for some coaches.
“It is definitely different,” said Carlson, who has the Vikes off to a 2-0 start this season after being named the Mugs Media Team of the Year last season. “With playing in two leagues, you don’t know what to expect because you haven’t played these teams before.
“We were used to playing Ridgewood, IHA (Immaculate Heart Academy) and Montclair, and they are very good programs we would measure ourselves against,” he added. “But we will see. It is a little confusing when you play a team twice and one is for the NJAC and the other is for the other league (NJIGLL).”
It certainly is. For example, Vernon will play Randolph and Roxbury twice in consecutive games, for a total of four games in two weeks against two opponents. One game will count toward the NJAC and the second game the NJIGLL.
Unless it is a doubleheader in baseball or softball, it is never a good idea to play the same team back-to-back, but due to the realignment it is a reality for some teams.
So here is the breakdown for the NJAC, according to Jefferson AD and NJAC President John DiColo, who by the way, has been nothing but helpful when it comes to my constant questions about the NJAC.
The American Division is as follows: Vernon, Randolph, Morris Knolls, Roxbury, Morristown, West Morris, Mount Olive and Hanover Regional (a co-op comprised of Hanover Park and Whippany Park).
The National Division definitely has a local flavor with Sparta, Pope John, Jefferson, Lenape Valley, along with Morris County powers Mendham and Chatham, plus Morris Hills.
The third division is the Independence Division, which is a doozy, with Madison, Mt. Lakes, Morris Catholic, Pequannock, St. Elizabeth, Villa Walsh and Morristown-Beard.
Every team will play its division foe once for a seven-game regular season with the team with the best record being named division champ.
DiColo said he liked the idea of having another NJAC sport and he added that after much discussion it was decided to leave the boys teams alone. The boys teams in the NJAC are part of the New Jersey Interscholastic Lacrosse Coaches Association, which is comprised of eight divisions based on strength of program.
In the Mugs Media area, Vernon, Pope John, Jefferson and Sparta are members of the B-level Rizk Division, while Kittatinny and Wallkill Valley are in the C-level Pooley Division. The A-Division is the highest and those divisions house state powers like Delbarton, Mt. Lakes, Ridgewood and Montclair.
Lenape Valley and first-year varsity programs Newton and High Point are independents, while North Warren, our reigning Team of the Year, plays in the B-level Klank Division.
All right, back to the girls. So why would the teams in North Jersey form a new league when for years you had a three-division setup with the Stars, Stripes and Patriot divisions based on strength of program?
Well, according to a report in the Star-Ledger, many coaches felt the old system was outdated with so many leagues, like the NJAC, making girls lacrosse a sport, plus it was felt that forming a super 69-team conference based on strength of program would alleviate the problem of blowouts, which had plagued the top teams in the state.
Ok, sounds good, but it is still confusing to me that teams in the NJAC are in two leagues.
In the NJIGLL, Vernon’s division is Randolph, Roxbury, Sparta, Jefferson, Montville, Pope John and Morris Catholic. All of them are NJAC teams, so why the change from the league alignment? No one has been able to give me an answer I understand yet.
But what I do know, is that Lenape Valley coach Kelly Kummerer is not a big fan of being put in two leagues.
The energetic 2003 Roxbury grad is trying to build a program at Lenape Valley, which is just in its second varsity season, and she was hoping to do that by developing the program as an independent before joining a league.
“It is a little disheartening,” said Kummerer. “I hope they decide to go back to the way they had it. Trying to build a program is very hard and you don’t want to lose kids or have them become disinterested because we a struggling against the top programs like Mendham.
“We should be playing new teams like Boonton and River Dell, not Mendham, Montville and Chatham,” she added.
She has a point, but for the NJAC to succeed it needs to have as many sports as possible. Even if the NJAC went to strength of schedule, Lenape would have a tough time right now, and I’m sure Boonton, which is an independent this season, will be put in the NJAC pretty soon.
So just when you think you have seen all the twists and turns of realignment, you find out that girls lacrosse has two leagues. Just goes to show, you never know.
ODDS AND ENDS…Speaking of new lacrosse programs, congratulations to George Morville and Kittatinny Cougars boys program for posting its first varsity win when it topped another newbie in High Point, 15-0, the other day.
As anyone who follows lacrosse knows, Morville is the Godfather of Lacrosse in Sussex County, having played years ago at Newton for Larry Beatty and being the sport’s top ambassador in the county for years.
Morville, who was inducted into the Sussex County Sports Hall-of-Fame for his lacrosse exploits as a player and coach, was all smiles after the win especially because he was able to share it with his son, Ryan, who scored in the game.
Way to go, George, your 12-year odyssey of putting a team on the field for Kittatinny has come to a successful end, but the journey has just begun for the Cougars and it should be fun to see what Kittatinny will do under Morville.
In my last blog I said I would check on how champs would be named in the NJAC for softball and baseball. Well, once again I went to DiColo (I can’t believe he still takes my phone calls with all the questions I ask him!) and he said the American and National champs will be decided like soccer and hoops.
The best overall record in games against both American and National opponents will decide the division champs. And in the Freedom, only the 12 division games will count toward a title although each baseball and softball team has four randomly-drawn crossovers games.
And finally, in the You-Can’t-Believe-Everything-You-Hear Department, High Point boys soccer coach Brian Emma will be back on the sidelines for the Wildcats.
Rumors spread all over the county that Emma was out after the Wildcats suffered though a 1-win season. But on a personal note, I’m happy to report that Emma told me he will be back, and despite what some people might think, it is a good thing.
Emma is a hard-working, proud graduate of High Point that just happened to have rotten luck in the very tough American/National of the NJAC last season. With a revamped American Division next season, High Point will see old Sussex County Interscholastic League foes, Vernon, Sparta, Pope John (which it beat last year) and Jefferson as well as Morris Hills, Montville and Mt. Olive and should be much more competitive.
That’s it for now, see you on the sidelines.
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