Moorestown

John Majane hoped for more than a decade that his daughter, who was 15 when he last saw her in Moorestown, N.J., had simply run away. But Carolyn Majane was pretty, popular and happy. And aside from the usual struggles of growing up with four brothers, she had no reason to vanish on her own. "I always hoped that she was alive," said John Majane, a self-employed engineer who now lives with his family in Bethesda, Md. "But after so many years and so many holidays went by without so much as a phone call, I started to realize that she must be dead.

With its cascading granite waterfalls, sculpture garden, and reflecting pools, banking mogul Vernon Hill's 55,000-square-foot mansion is over-the-top even for pricey Moorestown, says New Jersey's top tax court. But Hill's "opulent" mansion on 44 acres - reportedly the largest private home in New Jersey - is far from overvalued for tax purposes, according to the court's chief judge. In a ruling handed down last week, the presiding judge of New Jersey Tax Court rejected Hill's 2008 lawsuit asking him to cut in half the township's $21 million assessment.

Every year, there is a slogan - splashed across T-shirts worn all the players, usually yellow letters on black cotton. And this year's theme is as fitting as there has ever been: The endless pursuit of perfection. Hyperbole for some teams. For the Moorestown girls' lacrosse squad, it's a way of life, a standard of working and playing, proved repeatedly across generations. The Quakers are fresh off a 26-0 campaign, including a Tournament of Champions title - a perfect season.

A coaching milestone and a trip to a championship game will be on the line for the Moorestown boys' soccer team Sunday in the semifinals of the South Jersey Coaches Tournament. The Quakers got there by beating Timber Creek, 1-0, in a quarterfinal defensive struggle Saturday, giving coach Mike Sutcliffe his 299th win in a career that goes back to 1990. Ninth-seeded Moorestown will play Lenape, a Friday winner over Haddon Heights, at 2 p.m. at Eastern. Michael Handlan scored the game's lone goal in the 79th minute, winning a race to a loose ball in the box after a failed clearing attempt.

Julie McGrory could not remember the last time the Moorestown girls' basketball team beat Willingboro. Neither could Willingboro coach Guy Fowler, and he's headed up the Chimeras' program for almost a decade. McGrory won't have to ponder the question any longer. The Moorestown senior forward scored a game-high 19 points as the visiting Quakers turned back the favored Chimeras, 47-40, yesterday in a key Burlco-Liberty matchup. "We had a heartbreaking loss to them last year at the end," said McGrory, who was 7 of 8 from the free throw stripe.

The Traganza property is finally in the hands of Moorestown. The 34 acres on Garwood Road are "some of the most prestigious and pristine property in town," said Dennis Talty, the township solicitor. "It has woods, streams, wildlife. It's really environmentally sensitive. " Township officials had been "pursuing this property for a long, long time," Talty said. Late last week, negotiations were completed to buy the land for $350,000 from PNC Bank, the trustee and executor of Robert and Mary Traganza's estate.

After sharing a state Group 2 championship last season, the Moorestown field hockey didn't take any chances on settling for another tie yesterday when it made a repeat appearance in the title game. The Quakers (21-1), ranked No. 4 team in The Inquirer South Jersey top 10, overpowered Wallkill Valley, 4-1, in a game played at Trenton State College. The victory gave coach Joan Lewis her fifth state title in 10 years at Moorestown. "We wanted to come up here and win big," said Lewis, who reminded her team before the game about last year's 1-1 tie with Westwood.

Moorestown coach Bill Donoghue warned his baseball team about the dangers of playing Cinnaminson, and he saw nothing but puzzled looks. After all, Moorestown had pummeled the Pirates, 18-0, on April 8. Donoghue knew what he was talking about. Moorestown escaped with a 2-1 victory yesterday over Cinnaminson in the Burlington County League Liberty Division. Moorestown, which finished last season 6-14, improved to 8-2 overall and 5-1 in the Liberty. Cinnaminson, which starts only two seniors, fell to 6-7, 4-4. "I told our guys that it would be a close game, and they looked at me like I was crazy," Donoghue said.

Alex Zaugra stopped 21 shots. Kristin Kocher stopped her own heart. And the Shawnee girls' lacrosse team stopped one of the most impressive winning streaks in the history of South Jersey sports. Kocher, a junior midfielder, scored with 12.6 seconds on the clock to lift Shawnee to a stunning 7-6 victory over Moorestown on Monday in the championship game of the South Jersey Group 3 girls' lacrosse tournament. "My heart stopped beating," Kocher said of her reaction to her dramatic goal.

There are two times that matter most for leadoff hitters and seniors: Early in the game and late in the season. Andrew Lisa is making the best of both. Lisa reached base five times and scored three runs Wednesday to spark Moorestown to a 15-7 victory over Winslow Township in the first round of the South Jersey Group 3 baseball tournament. Lisa, a senior shortstop, also collected three hits and two RBIs as third-seeded Moorestown (15-6) won for the 12th time in 13 games and advanced to face sixth-seeded Ocean City in Friday's second round.

WEST WINDSOR, N.J. - It took three sets and three shirts. It took more than two hours, several ice bags, a wet towel, and a change in strategy. But at the end of a long and grueling match at the end of a long and grueling day, Moorestown senior Hamza Husain emerged with a victory to clinch the Group 3 state boys' tennis title for the Quakers. "I'm dead tired," Husain said after his three-set victory provided the decisive point in Moorestown's 3-2 triumph over Demarest on Wednesday.

It remains unclear whether a bronze Percheron might someday gaze out on Moorestown's business district, but a park honoring the breed of gentle workhorse now seems nearly certain. The nonprofit group Friends of Percheron Park reported that it raised an estimated $50,000 at a fund-raising gala on Tuesday, and that landscaping for the little park could begin this fall. A life-size statue of a Percheron, if it comes, "won't be standing in mud," publicity chair Julie Maravich said Wednesday.

At last season's end-of-year banquet, Steph Toy handed Marie McCool a gift bag with a handwritten note inside. "I opened it, and the note said that it was my turn to lead this team," McCool said. "It said that she was handing me down the No. 51. " The Moorestown girls' lacrosse program is steeped in numerous, often quirky traditions. They have songs and chants and slogans, and they make videos and shirts - all with some kind of deep-rooted meaning, all part of the singular experience of being part of the Moorestown team.

There are no stands surrounding the grass field at Shawnee High School. The 400 or so in attendance Tuesday afternoon were mostly sitting on the ground or standing, several deep in some spots, craning their necks to see the nation's most storied girls' lacrosse rivalry. Emotions always run high when Shawnee plays Moorestown in girls' lacrosse. The intensity on the field is different, something separate even from what you'd feel in a postseason game. But that still doesn't quite explain what the annual matchup means to the players.

After her team lost to one of the country's top-ranked girls' lacrosse teams, Strath Haven coach Rachel Busza was indifferent. She said the competition was nothing new to her Panthers. "Do I think they're better than us? No," Busza said after a 9-5 loss to Moorestown on Saturday. "I think if they were in the Central League, they'd be right up there with us, Conestoga . . . all the regulars. " The Panthers lost to the Quakers, ranked No. 1 in the area phillylacrosse.com and No. 3 in North America by TopLaxRecruits.com, on a sunny afternoon at George L. King Field in Wallingford, Pa. Moorestown improved to 15-0, but the Panthers gave the Quakers their closest game of the season.

Strath Haven will have a chance Saturday to do something that no other girls' lacrosse team has done this year - beat Moorestown (N.J.). Moorestown is 12-0 and one of the top teams in the country. The Quakers are ranked No. 1 in the area by phillylacrosse.com and No. 3 in North America by TopLaxRecruits.com. With a 35-game winning streak, Moorestown is winning games this season by an average of 15 goals. Strath Haven will get a chance to knock off the Quakers at its inaugural "Play for the A's" fund-raiser Saturday.

Drew Pederson is like many student-athletes, appreciating his time on the field even more once it was taken away. Pederson, considered among South Jersey's top 2012 football prospects, missed his senior season at Moorestown after breaking his left ankle in preseason practice. He's now back competing, albeit in baseball, but is also looking forward to the next chapter in his life in football. Pederson patiently waited behind Andrew Lisa at quarterback at Moorestown. As a junior, Pederson did emerge as one of South Jersey's top defensive backs, making eight interceptions.

Moorestown catcher Alex Campbell looks back at the victory over Rancocas Valley. www.philly.com/ rallyvideos

Alex Campbell drove in the game's first run with a single. He drove in the game-winning run with a sacrifice fly. But the Moorestown catcher's biggest contribution to his team's rousing, 6-4 victory over previously undefeated Rancocas Valley on Tuesday was a diving defensive play. Campbell scrambled to gather an errant pitch, then dived to tag out a runner at the plate for the key out in the seventh inning of a wild Burlco Liberty baseball game at the Red Devils' athletic complex in Eastampton.

The Kingsway baseball team cruised in a pair of games Saturday to win the Joe Lang Tournament at Pitman. After shutting out Gateway, 9-0, Kingsway topped host Pitman, 8-4, behind a 4-for-4 performance by Ronnie Ippolite, who was named the tournament's MVP. Ippolite doubled, knocked in two runs, and scored one. Phil Krug Tournament. After beating Pope John Paul II, 10-4, Moorestown defeated host Millburn in the tournament final, 5-3. Moorestown's Tyler Kaiser delivered the decisive blow against Millburn, a bases-clearing double in the fourth inning.