It was a major turnaround for the Columbia Girls lacrosse squad as they were able to put a 4-15 Saturday loss at Mendham behind them and handily march to a 15-5 win over Caldwell in the quarterfinals of the Essex County Tournament. The Columbia girls got off to a fast start against, leading 11-1 at the half.

Many team members shared in the glory with goals and assists coming from Melissa Carelli (4 goals, 1 assist), Meredith Crane (2 goals, 2 assists), Becca Frankoski (2 goals), Brooke Norman (2 goals, 1 assist), Ginevra Czech (1 goal, 2 assists), Maggie Richardson (2 goals), Michaela Galante (1 goal), H. Spiegel (1 goal) and Olivia Mangan (1 assist). Goalie Samantha Storch made 12 saves.

The day was made even more festive by the fact that it was Seniors' Day. Parents brought out balloons, hung signs and served up cake after the game to celebrate the seniors.

At Mendham on Saturday, the boys team won 8-6, a pretty impressive result in the "land of lacrosse" where most of the Mendham coaches are also coaches of elite lacrosse programs. One CHS parent speculated that the girls were perhaps disconcerted that their off-season coaches were coaching for the opposing team. Goalie Storch also was not her characteristically sharp self, although she made 12 superb saves. The four CHS goals were scored by Ginevra Czech (two), Melissa Carelli (1 goal, 1 assist) and Olivia Mangan (1 goal).