Girls lacrosse team starts season with three wins

The West Milford High School girls lacrosse team completed a perfect start to the opening week of its 2023 campaign when it registered a 10-8 decision over Lakeland on Saturday afternoon, April 8 in Lakeland.

The Highlanders were led by Paige Fava (two goals, two assists), Trista Starr (two goals, one assist), Vivian Sirnik (two goals) and Kailey Maskerines (one goal, two assists). Adison Arciniega, Sarah Benowitz and Skyler Ribitzki also scored single goals for West Milford, which overcame an eight-goal effort from Lakeland’s Reaghan Lomascola.

West Milford opened its season with a 10-7 victory at Old Tappan on April 3 as Starr totaled four goals, Fava added three goals, Simik scored twice, and Maskerines totaled a goal and three assists.

On April 6, the Highlanders played their home opener and scored a 17-4 victory over Waldwick.

Fava connected for a career-high nine goals with Arciniega adding three strikes and Benowitz scoring twice. Sirnik and Maskerines each totaled a goal and an assist and Starr also scored once.

West Milford, 11-7 a year ago, was scheduled to play at DePaul at 1 p.m. Friday, April 14.

Here is how the other West Milford teams fared last week:

Baseball

The Highlanders had a rough opening week as they dropped all three of their contests.

In the home-opener against DePaul on April 5, West Milford erased a one-run deficit when the team scored three times in the bottom of the third. DePaul then took the lead for good, scoring five runs in the top of the fifth and posting a 6-3 victory.

Will Craten was 2-for-3 with three RBI and Carsen DeRobertis, Ryan Lombardi and Chris Timmins each scored a run for the Highlanders.

In its season-opener April 3 at Mahwah, West Milford dropped a 13-8 decision. The team was led by Jake Schwarzlow (2-for-4, double, three RBI), Craten (2-for-2, double, two RBI, run), Timmins (2-for-4, two runs) and Tim Paulison (1-for-2, walk, RBI).

The Highlanders (0-3) were scheduled to play at Pompton Lakes at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 15.

Softball

The Highlanders also had a tough time finding the win column last week as they suffered three straight losses to open the season.

After a 6-0 loss at Mahwah on April 3, West Milford bowed to Indian Hills, 7-1, on April 6 and lost to Passaic Valley, 11-1, on April 10.

Freshman Caitlyn Clarke had an RBI single in the loss to Indian Hills.

West Milford (0-3) was set to play host to Wayne Hills at 4 p.m. Monday, April 17.

Boys lacrosse

Theo Bolger (three goals, two assists, 11 ground balls), Jake Kelshaw (two goals, 10-of-14 face-offs won, six ground balls), Vincent D’Andrea (three goals, four ground balls), Nate Appell (one goal, 13 ground balls, 9-of-14 face-offs won) and goalie Tyler Acanfrio (32 saves) have led West Milford so far this spring.

The Highlanders (0-2) were scheduled to play at Westwood at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 13 before playing at Montville at 6 p.m. April 14.

Boys tennis

West Milford dropped matches to Ramapo and Wayne Valley last week and will seek its first victory of the season at 4 p.m. April 14 at Wayne Hills.

The Highlanders are led this season by Ethan Garcia (first singles), Ognjen Ljusic (second singles), Matt Strianse (third singles), Keith Telesmanich and Vinny Comereto (first doubles), and Lucas White and Aryan Zamriwala (second doubles).