Stevens Falls at Montclair St., 10-8
Rob Kulish
MONTCLAIR, N.J. (March 2, 2013) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women’s lacrosse team fell by a score of 10-8 at Montclair State University Saturday at Sprague Field. The Ducks fall to 1-1 on the season, while Montclair moves to 1-0.
After freshman defender
Nicole Francis (Toms River, N.J.) gave the Red Hawks a 1-0 edge, Stevens ripped off four-straight tallies over a span of 7:25 to open a 4-1 edge with 15:22 to play in the first period. Senior tri-captain
Joey Galligan (Burlingame, Calif.) got the scoring started thanks to an assist from senior tri-captain
Spencer Waybright (West Hartford, Conn.), with Waybright, junior midfielder
Kara Rafferty (Bayshore, N.Y.) and freshman
Erica Wilcox (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) accounting for the Stevens markers. The Wilcox score was the first of her young career.
MSU countered with a goal after almost 10 minutes of scoreless lacrosse to pull within two, but the Ducks made it 5-2 when pressure on a clear forced a Red Hawk own-goal to go up 5-2. Junior midfielder
Kelly Schoneveld (DenVille, N.J.) closed the first-half scoring for Montclair with 2:01 left, and the two teams went into the mission with the score Stevems 5, Montclair 3.
Rafferty’s seventh goal of the season and second of the game to start the second half made it 6-3 Ducks, but Montclair answered with six-straight scores to open a 9-6 margin with 14:57 left to play. Senior attack
Kailee Beal (Succasunna, N.J.) and sophomore midfielder
Jenna Bussiere (Dayton, N.J.) each tallied two goals in the big run for Montclair.
Stevens closed within one behind scores from sophomore attack
Caitlyn Hughes (Randolph, N.J.) and Wilcox with 8:23 and 47 seconds remaining, respectively, but the Red Hawks won the final draw control of the afternoon and sealed the win with a score as time expired.
Each team took 24 shots, with Montclair holding a 33-27 lead in ground balls and an 11-8 margin in draw controls. Senior goalie
Meg Collins (Marshfield, Mass.) took the loss in goal for Stevens, making five saves in 39-plus minutes of action. Junior
Mel Welcome (Winsted, Conn.) played the final 20-plus in the cage and made one save.
Senior goalie
Tiffani Henderson (Landing, N.J.) made 10 saves for the hosts to earn the win.
The Ducks were led by two goals from Wilcox and Rafferty, with Waybright and Hughes also notching multiple points. Sophomore
Courtney Lee (Brookeville, Md.) had four caused turnovers and four ground balls to lead the defense and sophomore
Amanda Ingersoll (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) tallied two ground balls and two caused turnovers. Galligan had five draw controls and Waybright added two draws and a trio of ground balls to her line.
MSU was led by four points from Beal and a pair of tallies from Bussiere and Schoneveld.
The Ducks will look to get back in the win column on Wednesday, March 6 when they visit FDU-Florham at 4 p.m.