Hartwick Outlasted by Keuka, 7-6
KEUKA PARK, NY – Hartwick’s women’s lacrosse team fell just short of its third straight win on Wednesday as host Keuka College tallied in the waning seconds to break a 6-6 deadlock in a thrilling 7-6 game in Keuka Park, NY. The Storm’s Taylor Smith scooped up a ground ball in front of Hartwick’s goal and scored the game-winner with 33 seconds left, which was also her fifth goal of the game. The Hawks won the ensuing draw but turned it over before they could get a shot off. The Storm won the ground ball and ran out the final 10 seconds to earn the victory.
With the setback, Hartwick slips to 3-4 on the season. Keuka improves to 2-1 on the campaign with the win.
Sophomore
Lisa Littleton (Yorktown, NY/Yorktown) scored twice to pace Hartwick offensively. Junior
Kate Purcell (Buffalo, NY/Mount Mercy Academy) and freshman
Kia Ference (Schenectady, NY/Schenectady) each contributed a goal and an assist and junior
Meg Luce (Saratoga Springs, NY/Saratoga Springs) and
Emily Jweid (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro) also tallied.
Senior
Kate O’Shea (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) and sophomore
Jackie Moynihan (West Islip, NY/West Islip) also dished out assists for the Hawks. Hartwick keeper
Steph Luce (Saratoga Springs, NY/Saratoga Springs) made 11 saves in the game, which was her second-highest total of the season.
Today’s contest was close from the opening whistle. The game was either tied or one team held a one-goal lead for a total 44 minutes and seven seconds.
The Storm would jump out in front with a pair of goals inside the first five minutes of action. Smith found the net at 28:44 and again at 25:01 and the hosts led 2-0.
It took the Hawks over 14 minutes to find the net before Littleton got her team on the scoreboard with a goal set up by Purcell. One minute, thirty seconds later, the Hawks knotted the score at 2-2 as Ference set up Luce for her tenth goal of the season at 14:29.
The game remained even for close to six minutes until Jweid, the reigning Empire 8 Conference Player of the Week, scored a free-position goal with 8:44 to go in the half. Purcell then tallied off a feed from O’Shea 40 seconds later and Hartwick led 4-2.
Jennifer Burt would cut the deficit in half with 3:36 left on the clock and the Hawks headed into halftime up a goal, 4-3.
After close to 11 minutes of scoreless action in the second half, Ference increased the Hawks’ lead to two goals with an unassisted score with 19:22 left to play in the contest. The Hawks, however, would go goalless for close to 10 minutes as the Storm scored three unanswered goals to retake the lead.
Maggie Bonafede pulled Keuka to within one with 16:59 left and Smith tied the game at 5-5 on a free-position goal 3:01 later.
Just 1:41 after tying the score, Smith was at it again with 12:17 remaining as she gave her team the lead with Kaycee Maguire assisting and Keuka was in front for the first time since the middle of the first half.
The Hawks called timeout to regroup and they answered to tie the game for the third time 2:37 later. Littleton scored her tenth goal of the year with Moynihan assisting to set the stage for a wild final 10 minutes.
The Storm won the draw and Burt had a chance to put her team in the lead but her shot was turned away by Steph Luce in the Hartwick cage. With under six minutes to go, it was Keuka keeper Molly Hogan to the rescue as she stopped a Moynihan effort. Less than a minute later, Meg Luce had another chance but Hogan came up with another save to keep the game level.
With under 45 seconds left, Steph Luce denied a Bonafede shot and a scrum ensued in front of the Hartwick goal. Keuka’s Smith would emerge with the ball and found the net with 33 ticks left to put the hosts up to stay.
Keuka held slim advantages in shots (24-19) and ground balls (25-22) in the game. The Hawks had the edge in draw controls (9-6) and caused turnovers (11-8).
Thirteen Hawks registered at least one ground ball in the game. O’Shea, Jweid, and sophomore
Caroline Stanford (Skaneateles, NY/Skaneateles) grabbed three apiece to lead ’Wick. Moynihan and Littleton each had two.
Jweid had the team-high in draws with three. Stanford caused a team-best two turnovers.
Smith had the game-high in ground balls with five for the Storm. Olivia Hudson grabbed five draws and both Smith and Sam Layton caused three Hartwick turnovers. Hogan finished with 13 saves.
Hartwick opens up its Empire 8 Conference schedule on Saturday. The Hawks will travel to Utica College for a 1 p.m. game at Charles Gaetano Stadium.