Two star freshmen leading a revival for one Bergen County girls lacrosse team

The new face of Holy Angels lacrosse has two different sides.

There is the Jane Tenaglia off the field, the unassuming 5-foot-3 freshman with the friendly smile.

Then there is the one on it – a highlight waiting to happen, bouncing left, right, left and underneath the nearest defender. The player who stays a half-hour after practice to rip shot after shot on senior goalie Betania Kiamue.

"She's just internally driven," coach Bill Potkulski said. "That's what it's about. It's about getting the repetitions in and wanting to get better every day. She truly does."

This year, Tenaglia has sparked a lacrosse revival at the small Demarest school.

Wins have doubled. Scoring is up two-fold. And confidence is building for the Angels (6-0) after grabbing a share of first place in the American Red.

But as much as Tenaglia has put the program back on the map with ridiculous numbers – her 36 goals and 45 points rank second in North Jersey and lead all freshmen – she is not the only newcomer making an impact on this Angels roster.

So is club teammate Rose Dooley, the other half of a dominant midfield duo. She's chipped in 19 goals and eight assists of her own while balancing a key role in the faceoff circle. Her IQ and use of both hands have drawn praise.

"Rose is definitely a great player," Tenaglia said. "She doesn't always look for goals. It's also the assists. I think we work really well together and she also works well with our other teammates. She's very positive, very selfless. Great on the draw and a great overall player."

This freshman class arrived at the perfect time for the Angels. Only two of their 22 players are seniors and only one of the last six seasons culminated with a winning record.

More adversity struck in the opening game when the team's top returning scorer, sophomore Emily Vonderhorst, went down with a knee injury that will keep her out indefinitely.

Even with those hurdles, Potkulski was still confident in the roster in place.

"It's been expected, knowing what I had coming in," Potkulski said. "I knew that all the players from last year put in tremendous work and even though the results weren't there, I saw them get better on a daily basis. I knew they needed a nice supporting cast that could get to goal and score."

The pieces started to fall into place last spring when Tenaglia committed to Holy Angels. For the Oradell native, it was a chance to carry on a family legacy. She spent plenty of afternoons on campus watching her sister Anna, who scored more than 100 goals for the Angels before graduating two years ago.

"We don't really have a great wall for wall ball," Potkulski said. "She said there's this little hidden spot that she used to go to back when she came to watch Anna's games and she would play off the wall there. She'll do whatever. She'll shoot on nobody or anybody that wants to stay with her."

If teammates aren't around, Tenaglia can always head to the backyard. Her brother Jack is the top-point scorer at Bergen Catholic as a senior on attack. Tenaglia insists that there is no competition between the two when it comes to piling up stats.

"No, but I think we're really good at motivating each other," Tenaglia said. "We definitely have jokes around the house. He's a great player and he's taught me so much to bring here."

Those lessons will come in handy this year and over the next three at Holy Angels. With Tenaglia, Dooley and junior Rowan O'Malley (7 goals, 4 assists) running the offense, the window to success is wide open.

"We're working to build a better program, so this is a good step toward next year if we can get more girls to come on," said Dooley, who lives in Ramsey. "I think overall we have really good teamwork. We're all friends. There's no drama."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Freshmen Jane Tenaglia, Rose Dooley lead Holy Angels girls lacrosse