When she was a freshman at Bridgewater-Raritan High School two years ago, Giada Catanzaro surged onto the high school girls’ lacrosse scene by collecting an astounding 12 points in her debut to open the season at Mount Saint Mary Academy.
Perhaps this was an appropriate foreshadowing of similar results to come for the Panthers junior, who is currently committed to playing NCAA Division 1 lacrosse at Virginia Tech.
While collecting that many points in one game is a difficult feat alone, Catanzaro still managed to eclipse this with 13 points against Ridge High School in the Somerset County Tournament quarterfinals last year in her sophomore season.
After opening her junior campaign with 10 points in a victory at Voorhees High School on Tuesday, April 1, it was therefore not a surprise that Catanzaro clinched another big milestone in her next game 48 hours later.
Not even one minute after the game’s opening draw, Catanzaro (three goals, four assists) hit for her first goal of the game and goal No. 100 for her career as part of an eight-goal first period by Bridgewater-Raritan (2-0).
Including Catanzaro, three of the Panthers’ six goal-scorers dialed up hat tricks, and Bridgewater-Raritan rolled to a 15-2 victory in its home opener against Phillipsburg High School (0-2) Thursday, April 3, at John Basilone Memorial Field in Bridgewater.
Most importantly, not only did Catanzaro’s teammates hold up a congratulatory poster they made for her immediately after reaching No. 100 with 11:04 left in the first quarter. Right after the final buzzer, they delivered her a trio of ‘1’, ‘0’, and ‘0’ balloons to further commemorate her big moment.
A gesture that is certainly consistent with the cornerstone ‘Family’ mantra this storied Bridgewater-Raritan girls’ lacrosse program has been built on since its inception.
“It’s exciting and we’re really proud of Giada, but I think she would also say that it is a team effort,” praised of the accomplishment by new Bridgewater-Raritan head coach Jaimie Peterson, “She wouldn’t be able to do it without her teammates, and likewise, they wouldn’t be able to do it without her. This group of girls is really special.”
“They do really believe in themselves as a family.”
Seniors Emma Ciocon (four goals, four draw controls), Allie Prickett (four goals), and Ella Daehnke (two goals) were the remaining multi-goal scorers for Bridgewater-Raritan, which added one goal each from freshmen Sarah Hurlbut (one goal, two assists) and Ashley Ciufo (one goal).
Senior Sophie Levin grabbed a team-high six draw controls, while freshman Sam Tremarco hauled in four draw controls, and junior Mia James and freshman Skye Cabatu each snatched onedraw control.
The Panthers will serve as host to Watchung Hills Regional High School (1-3) at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, April 8 before a massive showdown with Skyland Conference Delaware Division rival and sixth-ranked Hunterdon Central (2-0) at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 10, at Basilone Memorial Field.