Last season saw the supremacy of the South Brunswick High School girls lacrosse team come to an end.

After winning five consecutive GMC Tournament titles and carrying a 64-game winning streak against GMC opposition into the season, the Vikings started out 1-3 before winning 14 straight games until they lost to North Brunswick in the county final.

South Brunswick will look to pick up the success they've had over recent years under first-year head coach Sean Edwards, who takes over after serving as an assistant to John Coppola over the past four years.

“There is going to be some tough competition this year, and every game is going to be a battle, but we need to take it one game at a time and look to improve every day,” Edwards said. “We can go as far as our senior leadership takes us.”

That senior leadership lies in the midfield for the Vikings, where they return seniors Eileen Rolwood, Sarah Shaffer, and Lauren LoMenzo along with experienced senior goalie Liz Ruedemann to headline the defense.

Offensively the Vikings will lean on junior attack Caroline Hvozdovic as they lost a pair of key offensive contributors in Emily Ryan and Kelly Ciabatonne and also lost defenseman Ally Berger.

Overall though, South Brunswick should be in contention all year long and it wouldn't be a surprise to anyone if they’re competing for a sixth GMC title come in May.

Around the area

Defending GMC champ North Brunswick comes into the season as perhaps the favorite after quietly entering last season as a major sleeper. The Raiders return GMC Co-Players of the Year in juniors Samantha Mehalick, who is committed to Marist, and Tatum Altman as the two combined for 201 goals and 80 assists last season. The Raiders also bring back key sophomore defender Tory Tucci, who is committed to Wagner, and will count on a freshman in Natalie Chapman to step into goal.

East Brunswick graduated several key starters, including a pair of 100-point scorers from last season in Kayla Kennedy and Tess Rivera along with four-year letterwinner Taylor McNamara on the defensive end. First-year head coach Jill Peluzzo will count on senior midfielder Alex Kalafor, who scored 29 goals a year ago, and senior goalie Julie Vargas as the Bears are a relatively young team and will look to grow through the season.

Old Bridge enters the season with a very young team after graduating seven starters and 179 goals scored out of 244 total, including Caitlyn Nemeth, the program’s all-time leading scorer with 326 points. Head coach Steve Gajewski will need to rely on the youth of the Knights to improve over the course of the season.

Monroe brings back several key performers from last season’s team, notably attack Julianne Collins and midfielder Christina Tomasula. The Falcons also bring back junior Josie Pagano in goal, one of the GMC’s best at her position. They do however have to compensate for the loss of star attack Brittany Ballack.

J.P. Stevens will attempt to build off a rough 4-13 campaign under first-year head coach Lisa Dato. The Hawks will rely on juniors Molly Yelencsics and Lauren Tencza to spearhead the offense as they graduated 13 players, including 11 who have started at one point. The Hawks are very young and lack varsity experience, which may lead to some growing pains at times.

Rutgers Prep once again enters the season with a young squad, while South Plainfield and Edison are also among the teams that seek to improve from difficult seasons.

Bishop Ahr will sport a varsity team for the first time this season.