Moorestown

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.

The schedule maker hasn't been the kindest to Moorestown's football team early in the season. The Quakers' first four games this season are against Paul VI, Seneca, Timber Creek, and Williamstown. Those four teams were 36-8 last season, and all qualified for the postseason. Paul VI, Seneca, and Timber Creek were preseason Top 10 teams, and Williamstown is under consideration. Yet Moorestown was competitive in an opening 41-30 loss to Paul VI and then upset Seneca, 28-26, Sunday.

In a neighborhood rivalry that Moorestown field hockey coach Ali Collins characterized as a "dogfight," a behind-the scenes player took center stage and led the Quakers to victory yesterday afternoon at Delran. Nikki Shapiro, a junior forward, hopped off the bench and pumped in three goals to lead Moorestown to a 4-1 Burlington County League interdivisional victory over the Bears. The junior tied the score, 1-1, before the half and added the last two goals of the game. Shapiro, who suffered a broken nose in a junior varsity game last week, didn't seem to be rattled by the intensity of the game or the blow to the nose.

His two first-quarter touchdown passes might as well have dropped from the heavens. All the touch, the timing - that floating, light-as-air quality - that one never expects from a backup quarterback on opening night of the season. But here was Moorestown junior Tyreek Robinson, connecting on throws of 35 and 29 yards, finding an easy rhythm and leading his team to a win on the road. Robinson finished 9 for 13 for 228 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception, sending Moorestown to a 25-19 victory at Seneca on Friday night.

His two first-quarter touchdown passes might as well have dropped from the heavens. All the touch, the timing - that floating, light-as-air quality - that one never expects from a backup quarterback on opening night of the season. But here was Moorestown junior Tyreek Robinson, connecting on throws of 35 and 29 yards, finding an easy rhythm and leading his team to a win on the road. Robinson finished 9 for 13 for 228 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception, sending Moorestown to a 25-19 victory at Seneca on Friday night.

Albert Young, who was The Inquirer's South Jersey offensive football player of the year as a sophomore running back in 2000, has transferred from Moorestown to Willingboro for his senior year. Both schools are in Burlington County. Young lives with his mother in Moorestown but decided in the spring that he would live with his father in Willingboro for his senior year. "My father and I have a closer relationship and I wanted to move in with him my senior year," Young said yesterday.

Who is minding the net at Moorestown? That is about the only question surrounding the Quakers girls' lacrosse team this season. And while the query would be of major consequence to most teams contending for league and state titles, it's of little importance at Moorestown, a perennial national power and winner of the last seven Tournaments of Champions in New Jersey. "It's goalie by committee," said K.C. Knobloch, assistant to and husband of head coach Deanna Knobloch. "We have competition [at the position]

Out of breath, Julia Kuder apologized to Betsy Bulat. Bulat would have nothing of it. Kuder finished third and Bulat an uncharacteristic eighth to lead Moorestown to the Burlington County cross-country championship yesterday at Mill Creek Park, breaking Shawnee's 11-year county reign and 10-year winning streak in South Jersey. "I'm sad that I had to leave Betsy," Kuder, a junior, said. "We talked that we wanted to stay together like we had all year. I apologized for going away from her. " It wasn't necessary.

Wes Kerr's growth involves a lot more than his height. The Moorestown guard stands taller than ever in many ways - skill set, command of the game, confidence on the court. Kerr's remarkable jump from role player as a junior to leading man as a senior for one of South Jersey's most underrated teams was on full display in Moorestown's impressive 84-62 victory over Cinnaminson on Thursday night. Kerr controlled the fast-paced Burlington County League interdivision clash from the opening tip, scoring 19 of his 23 points, grabbing five of his seven rebounds, and dealing four of his six assists in the first half as the Quakers broke to a 49-28 lead.

If his game were basketball, Shaun Turner would be a great sixth man. "Remember Vinny 'The Microwave' Johnson for the Detroit Pistons?" Winslow Township football coach Mike McBride said. "Shaun is my Microwave. " Turner heated up in a hurry on Saturday, bouncing off the bench to score three touchdowns in three ways as Winslow Township beat Moorestown, 47-21, in a first-round game of the South Jersey Group 3 football tournament. Turner, a senior running back, scored on a 15-yard run, a 28-yard reception, and a 65-yard punt return.