Girls lacrosse team undefeated this season

Despite being a very young club, the West Milford High School girls lacrosse team is off to its best start in the 10-year history of the program.

On Friday, April 14, the Highlanders posted a 12-8 decision over DePaul in Wayne to improve to 5-0 this spring.

Paige Fava led the way with four goals, one asist, two ground balls and one forced turnover, with Trista Starr adding three goals, four ground balls and one forced turnover.

Kailey Maskerines (two goals, two assists, eight ground balls, two draw controls, one forced turnover), Vivian Sirnik (two goals, one assist, eight ground balls, four draw controls, two forced turnovers) and Adison Arciniega (one goal, eight ground balls, three draw controls, two forced turnovers) rounded out the offense while Jakke Galella made five stops in goal.

“I’m very proud of them and how well they’ve done,” said second-year head coach Harry Shortway. “We will end up of losing just three starters (to graduation), which means nine will be back. So we are young but are progressing very nicely.”

One of those senior starters - Starr, a prolific attacker - has totaled 13 goals and two assists this season and has scored 117 career goals in just three seasons of competition.

Galella, also a senior, moved into the goal-tending position by necessity in 2023.

“Jakke started on defense last year and was going to again this year, but we didn’t have a goalie,” said Shortway. “She stepped up to the plate and said she would try it and took on that responsibility of being our goaltender. She is very unselfish and has been a true leader.”

Fava, a junior, leads the team in scoring with 22 goals and four assists.

The rest of the roster includes seniors Erin Henaghen, Sara LaManna and Devla Pierre; junors Olivia Brijbag, Ashley Czeczuga, Lisa Ashlee, Maskerines and Skyler Ribitzki; sophomores Arciniega, Lindsey DeLorenzo, Joleigh DeRobertis, Ginny Good, Lily Kreutzer, Amanda O’Brien and Sirnik; and freshmen Sarah Benowitz and Allie Rockey.

West Milford began last week with a 14-3 win at Clifton on April 12.

Fava had four goals and an assist, Starr had three goals, Sirnik totaled two goals and an assist, with Arciniega also tallying a score.

The Highlanders are in the American South Division of the NJIGLL along with Clifton, DePaul, Passaic Tech, Pompton Lakes, Passaic Valley and Fair Lawn.

West Milford is seeking its second straight divisional title after going 5-1 in divisional play during last year’s 11-7 campaign.

“We know we have a target on our back this year,” the coach said. “This 5-0 start has definitely given us confidence. But we need to stay hungry. It’s a long season and we don’t want to be overconfident. We play Holy Angels (April 19) and then Wayne Valley (7 p.m. April 24 at home) and we can’t look ahead if we want to keep this up.”