Smith, Hart power Steinert girls lax to season-opening win over Ewing

Steinert’s Kelsey Espenhorst had two assists in the Spartans season-opening, 12-7 victory over Ewing Wednesday (Photo by Amanda “The Homeowner” Ruch).

By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com

Mar. 29: Unlike several years ago, when Steinert’s girls’ lacrosse team had trouble replacing talented graduates with new stars, the Spartans seem a little closer to being able to replenish their stock these days.

“We lost players from last year, but at the same time we gained a bunch of good players coming up from JV, we gained a good freshman who has a lot of experience and I think that’s what’s helping us out more now,” said coach Lorraine Heisler after Steinert took a 12-7, opening-day victory over visiting Ewing Wednesday. “The girls coming in have experience as opposed to before. When the program first started we didn’t know who was going to fill in the gap because we didn’t know what kind of players we had.

“Now that these girls are committed to the program and are playing more. We know what to expect from them and they’re setting the bar high for themselves, which is great.”

Steinert had a watershed season in 2016, going 11-5 and winning the CVC Patriot Division championship for the first time. They suffered a huge graduation hit by losing the program’s all-time leading scorer, Paige Meszaros, as well as Jess Layton and her 26 goals.

But sophomore Hannah Hart returned after scoring 34 goals last year and senior Riley Smith is back after tallying 15.

The two were at it in full vigor against the Blue Devils, as Smith scored five goals and Hart added four. They each scored two in the game’s decisive binge, as the Spartans tallied four goals within 2:41 to take an 8-2 lead with 46 seconds left in the half. Trailing 2-1, Steinert scored the final seven goals before the break.

Ewing got no closer than 9-4 in the second half as the Spartans maintained control. Emily Paternostro, Ashley Goimbert and Kaylie Skillman also scored, while Kelsey Espenhorst had two assists and Sam Manz added one. Goalie Taylor Brister made eight saves.

“I think this was awesome,” Smith said. “We’re trying to regroup from losing some of our better players last year but we definitely made up for them this game. We did an awesome job with throwing and groundballs and everything.

“I think our teamwork was awesome. We were talking a lot, which was good. We’re communicating better, and just our overall spirit, I think we’re all ready for the season.”

It doesn’t hurt to have a proven scorer like Hart back.

“She had a really good start for us last year and I expected her to be kind of consistent and stick with that this year,” Heisler said. “I’m glad she got the looks and got the opportunities she did today because she can capitalize on them.”

About The Author


Rich Fisher has been around the Hamilton Township sports scene for so long that he actually got Rich Giallella’s autograph when Giallella was still a player! Proud product of Hamilton YMCA and Lou Gehrig baseball leagues and former teammate of Jim Maher on a very average Barton & Cooney rec basketball team, Fish graduated from Nottingham Junior High and Steinert High school and has covered township sports since 1980. His goal in life is to convince Maria Prato that Jersey tomatoes are at least 100 times better than California tomatoes.