ITHACA, N.Y. (May 8, 2010) – The No. 8 and second-seeded Stevens Institute of Technology women’s lacrosse team held off a furious rally from third-seeded Rochester Institute of Technology in the semifinals of the Empire 8 Championship to win 16-14 at Carp Wood Field in Ithaca, N.Y. on a windy Saturday afternoon. Stevens, now 15-2 overall, will take on Ithaca College on Sunday at 12 p.m. for the conference title and automatic berth in the NCAA Division III Women’s Lacrosse Championship.
Stevens took the opening draw and scored. Sophomore Jenna Scheibling passed on a free-position attempt to junior Michelle Buonacuore who put in the easy score from the right post.
RIT (11-5) senior captain Eileen Hennigan (Liverpool, N.Y.) knotted the game at one apiece with a transition tally 3:30 into the game, but Buonacuore set up freshman Spencer Waybright after another free-position attempt to give the Ducks a 2-1 lead.
Scheibling took the ensuing draw down the field and set up senior Alyssa Pigott for her first goal of the game 17 seconds later. Just 18 ticks after that, junior Christine Smith blew past the RIT defense to give the Ducks a three-goal dge (4-1) with 23:57 left in the opening half. Pigott made it a 4-0 Stevens run with a nifty unassisted tally, but Empire 8 Rookie of the Year Shelby Vakenier (Fairport, N.Y.) cut the Duck lead to 5-2 with her first goal of the game.
Pigott scored her third of game to make it 6-2 Stevens with nine minutes left and Smith notched her second of the game with 19:38 remaining in the opening stanza. The Tigers were able to make it a 7-3 contest 12:49 in but could not get the necessary stops they needed as the Ducks pushed advantage back to five with a tally from Scheibling.
Sophomore Tina Podrasky (Scranton, Pa.) tallied the Tigers’ fourth goal of the contest to make it 8-4 Ducks, but once again, Stevens had the answer. Junior Leah Wasserman ended a 5:16 scoreless drought with her first goal of the contest to help the Ducks match their largest lead of the half with 5:16 remaining before the break.
Senior goalkeeper Shannon McFadden stopped two-straight Tiger free-position attempts and made three more incredible stops on point-blank RIT chances to help the Ducks maintain their five-goal advantage. When Stevens finally regained possession, Pigott tallied her fourth of the game thanks to a picture-perfect feed from Wasserman to open up a six-goal advantage with 1:45 left in the first. Vakenier put in her second of the contest with 29 ticks to play in the opening half and the two teams went into the break with Stevens leading 10-5.
Wasserman opened the second-half scoring with a transition tally started by junior defender Kate Cox. RIT would not quit as senior Ashley Pezze (Guilderland, N.Y.) recorded an unassisted goal to make it 11-6 Stevens with 25:37 to play.
Stevens answered the Pezze score seven minutes later to make it a 12-6 contest with 18:21 remaining in the second half. The Tigers scored a pair 15 seconds apart to cut the lead to four, and moments later, Podrasky made it 12-9 Stevens with a goal from the left side with 16:34 to go. The Tigers kept coming, winning the following draw control and getting a quick goal from Vakenier to cut the lead to two with 16:17 left.
McFadden made a big save a free-position attempt, and when the Ducks gained possession, Loria stopped the bleeding with a huge tally. Vakenier answered the Loria score with her fourth of the game, and after McFadden stopped a free-position shot, freshman Carly Augustyn (Spencerport, N.Y.) made it a one goal game with 10:26 left in the second half when she put in the rebound.
Hennigan tied the game with 8:55 left, but freshman Joey Galligan found a cutting Smith for a big score to give Stevens the lead (14-13) with 7:32 to play. Smith tallied again with 3:39 to play, flat-out beating her defender on the right, to give the Ducks a 15-13 lead.
Pezze brought RIT within one, 15-14, when she converted a free-position attempt with 3:02 showing on the clock, but Loria was able to put in a huge score moving from left-to-right across mouth of goal with 1:50 left.
The Ducks were able to maintain possession the rest of the way and earn the hard-fought victory.
Stevens ended with a 37-28 edge in shots, while the Tigers picked up 17 ground balls compared to 10 for the Ducks. Stevens held a slight 16-15 edge in draw controls with the Ducks taking 11 in the first half and RIT taking 11 in the second.
McFadden was credited with 11 saves in the win, while her counterpart, Katelyn Crane (Palmyra, N.Y.) stopped 13 Stevens shots despite taking the loss.
Smith finished with four goals including the game-winner, and five draw controls, while Pigott had four goals, an assist, three draw controls, and two ground balls. Wasserman had three points (two goals, one assist), while Scheibling, Buonacuore, Loria, and Galligan all recorded multiple points.