Ridge Girls Win Third Straight State Golf Championship

The Ridge High School girls golf team won the state Tournament of Champions in a matchup of eight of New Jersey's top teams held Thursday at Cherry Valley Golf Course in Skillman.

The three-year winning streak means that the girls varsity golf team has taken the state championship for most of the five years that the varsity girls golf program has existed.

Senior led this year's foursome, golfing a 73, said head girls golf Coach Siobhan Devlin.

Sophomores Monica Schumacher and Yunhee Kang each golfed a 81; and senior Katie Cappola golfed a 90, Devlin said.

"I am thrilled," Devlin said on Thursday after the victory. She said the parents of the team had been very supportive, and, "The kids recognized the benefits of working hard and trying to reach a goal."

Devlin said that Ridge had not been expected to win the state championship again this year.

The Montgomery team beat Ridge by just one stroke in this year's county championship, a crown that Ridge had captured last year, when three other seniors had joined Ku in a team that swept through the season.

But Ridge had avenged that loss by decisively out-golfing Montgomery in the Skylands Conference championship this season, Devlin said. The both teams had won the state sectionals before Thursday's TOC matchups, she said.

Montgomery's Alice Chen tallied an individual low score of 71 on Thursday, according to North Jersey.com.

Even though the team will lose three seniors this year — including Nicole McCreesh, who Devlin said has been an instrumental part of the team's success — she said she is expecting more hard work in the year ahead.

"My philosophy is we are going to be as good as we work," Devlin said.

Michele Cappola said her daughter, Katie, had only begun golfing to keep score when she joined the team as a freshman. She praised the coaching that her daughter had received from Devlin and Assistant Coach Rebecca Muraview.