Undefeated Toms River South Out To Prove Their Record Is For Real By Mike Ready

TOMS RIVER – Thursday’s 14-6 win over Brick Township not only kept Toms River South (15-0, 12-0) undefeated, but a number of milestones were reached that made the win that much sweeter. 

The Indians clinched the Shore Conference Class A South championship for the third consecutive year with their win over Brick and two seniors took center stage with crowning achievements that highlighted their outstanding careers. 

Senior Jennifer Toal scored six goals in the win, giving her 301 points in her four-year varsity career at South, while fellow senior Emily Donzanti’s five goals and one assist pushed her three-year varsity career point total to 205. 

“They mean a tremendous amount to the program,” said Toms River South head coach Tara Murray of her two star players. “We started to see the chemistry between the two of them build last year and this year they’ve taken it to the next level. They’re both scorers but they both also feed each other the ball constantly on the field. When a team tries to shut one of them down the other one steps up and they both seem to find the back of the net or use their ability to find their teammates.”

Donzanti and Toal are both scoring machines with each scoring 72 goals so far this season. Donzanti’s 29 assists give her 101 points while Toal has recorded 88 points including her 16 assists. Donzanti also leads the club in ground balls with 57 balls scooped up and Toal has recorded 55 ground balls. 

Not only does Donzanti excel in lacrosse, she’s also a stud basketball player that scored a career-high 29 points in an upset win over Southern to surpass the 1000-point mark for her career. She finished with 1162 career points averaging 19 points per game last season and will continue her academic and playing career at Stockton University. 

Both have had amazing senior seasons for the Indians and are among the top scorers in the state but more importantly they’ve put Toms River South on the map as a team to be reckoned with as they approach the Shore Conference Tournament and state playoffs. 

The Indians are currently ranked No. 10 in Group III play according to the most recent NJ.com rankings and were handed a No. 6 seed in the upcoming Shore Conference Tournament. 

“Every year it’s a big goal for us to win the A South title,” Murray said. “This year because we returned so many players and are paced by Jen and Emily we started out with a target on our backs. It’s a lot of pressure and as we remain undefeated every team wants to have their best game against us. Even against weaker teams there are never any games off. Every scheduled game is tough and because of makeup games and our four-game week we were super beat up but had to make sure we got everything in. It’s been a very hard pace that we’ve had to maintain this season.” 

Toms River South will host 11th-seeded Howell (8-5, 6-3) on Saturday in a first-round matchup. Last season as a No. 13, seed the Indians lost a 14-11 battle to fourth-seeded Manasquan in the first round. Two years ago as an eight seed, they beat No. 9 seed Red Bank in the first round before losing to top-seeded Rumson-Fair Haven in the quarterfinals. 

Toms River South’s five top scorers and top defender are all seniors and most have been playing together for four years so this is a cohesive group that knows how to play together. 

Senior attacker Lauron DeRogatis (15 goals, six assists) and senior midfielders Hannah Claus (13 goals, 10 assists) and Brooke Adams (10 goals, nine assists) are third, fourth and fifth in goals scored and complement Toal and Donzanti perfectly. 

Junior midfielder Elisabeth Rogers (seven goals, one assist) and junior attacker/midfielder Julia Ebeling (three goals and five assists) also start. Senior attacker Julia Christopher comes off the bench for Ebeling, who will then rotate out the midfielders.   

Senior Casey Dickinson (two goals, one assist, 47 ground balls) and junior Caitlin Carroll (one goal, 31 ground balls) have been the mainstays in the backfield on defense along with junior Jordan Adcock and sophomore Kaylie Gresek. Junior goalie Meg McKay, who has 128 saves to her credit and has a stellar 7.73 goals against average, has been steady in goal in her first year as a starter. 

Two years ago the Indians went 15-4 then last season they were 15-6 so this is a group that knows how to win and in recent years they’ve been the torchbearers as far as Ocean County girls lacrosse goes. So with this year being the culmination of four years of hard work for most of these girls, they’d like nothing more than to go out on top. If not, don’t expect them to go out without a good fight.  

“It’s super important,” said Murray when asked would it would mean to her seniors to make a good showing in the Shore Conference Tournament. “I know they have some individual achievements they want to go after, but they’re great about putting team achievements and team goals first. And we know for an Ocean County school we want to be respected and play at the level of some of these Monmouth County teams, so it means a lot for our reputation. Maybe we’re not going to walk away with a first- place finish but just to be able to keep up with these higher performing teams will mean a lot to us and it also prepares us for the state tournament.”  

In Saturday’s Shore Conference Tournament first-round game, the Indians will have to find a way to slow down junior Olivia Manghisi, who was a second team All-Shore pick a year ago and is one of the top scorers in the Shore again this season with 55 goals and 25 assists.  

UPDATE: Toms River South moved to 16-0 and advances to Tuesday’s MCT quarterfinals with a 15-9 win over Howell. The Indians with now face third-seeded Manasquan, a 17-7 winner over 14th-seeded Jackson Liberty. Toal led the Indians with five goals and two assists while Donzanti and Claus each had three goals with Donzanti adding two assists.