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Monday Sports Update

by Community Contributor
Hopewell Valley Central High School

Tuesday, the #2 seeded Hopewell Valley Boys Lacrosse team hosted the Mercer County Tournament Semifinals game against #3 seeded Notre Dame at Ackerson Field. Earlier in the season, Hopewell defeated the Fightin’ Irish 6-1, so Notre Dame was looking for some revenge.  Hopewell fought off the Irish with an 8-7 victory and a date with the Hun school on Thursday for the County Championship. Hopewell raced out to a 4-0 first quarter lead, and never looked back. Although Notre Dame chipped away for the rest of the game,  they just couldn’t wrestle the lead from the Bulldogs.  In the second quarter, Notre Dame potted two goals, while Hopewell scored another leaving a 5-2 Hopewell lead at the half. Third quarter, Notre Dame pressured with three goals, but Hopewell still scored two more for a 7-5 lead. The final quarter was a physical, leave it all on the field quarter, as ball possession and execution was key.  Again, Notre Dame outscored Hopewell again, 2-1, but not enough, as the Bulldogs hung on for the victory.  

Leading scorers in the game for Hopewell Valley were Jacob Sanderson with four goals and three assists, Louis Azara with two goals and Luke Caldwell and Lucas Gaissert with a goal each. Cutter Swanson was the winning goalie with 13 saves. Leading Notre Dame was Liam Harding with four assists, Will Beachem and Ian Staniec with two goals each. 
 
Thursday was the County Championship game with Hopewell Valley vs top seeded Hun. Hun had earned its way with an 11-7 win over #4 Allentown. Like the game versus Notre Dame, Hopewell jumped out to a first quarter lead and was leading 7-4 at the half. Hopewell took advantage of several Hun miscues and was looking for the upset. Hun pulled themselves together with six goals in the third quarter and three more in the final set for a 13-10 win. Coming into the game, Hun was undefeated and Hopewell gave the Raiders all they could handle.  

Louis Azara scored five goals to lead Hopewell. Luke Caldwell had tw goals and an assist, while Luke Long and Lucas Gaissert provided another goal and tw assists each. Jacob Sanderson chipped in a goal too. -Paul Domboski

This week, the Hopewell Valley Boys Volleyball team played four games, winning two. On Monday, the Bulldogs traveled to Hillsborough, falling in two sets (12-25, 13-25). Despite the loss, the game featured three kills from both Armaan Desai and Eiman Srogis, as well as many digs from libero Leo Huang and several assists from setter Saahith Kusupudi. 

On Tuesday, the Bulldogs faced Pensauken, earning a 2-0 win (25-13, 25-15). The match was a great show of the team’s abilities, with seven kills from Larry Kennedy and two each from Connor Plarre, Eli Miller, and Desai. In addition, Eiman Srogis showed his strength on the service line with six aces, with Desai and Kennedy adding two apiece.

On Thursday, the boys matched up against West Windsor-Plainsboro North, taking another 2-0 win (25-21, 26-24). The game was very tight, but the Bulldogs’ strong offense allowed them to pull out the win. Kennedy contributed six kills while Desai contributed eight kills and three blocks. Kusupudi racked up twenty assists over the course of the game, and Vincent Huang, Nick Lange, and Kennedy all contributed service aces.

On Friday, the boys played Northern Burlington, losing in two close sets, 23-25 and 17-25. While the Bulldogs put up a great fight with many kills and numerous digs, they had some difficulty trying to defend Northern Burlington’s strong offense. -Emilie Sawicki

  

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