Women's Lacrosse Teams clinch Playoff Spots with Wins

Women's Lacrosse Teams clinch Playoff Spots with Wins

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ST. JOHN FISHER v HARTWICK
The St. John Fisher College women's lacrosse team locked up the No. 2 seed for the Empire 8 Conference Championship with a 20-3 win at Hartwick College on Saturday.

With the win, Fisher improves to 11-3 overall and 5-1 in the Empire 8 Conference.     This is the 10th time in the last 11 years Fisher has qualified for the postseason.

Fisher wasted little time taking control.   The Cardinals led 3-0 less than four minutes into the game and with 13:50 left in the first half, the Cardinals were up 9-0.

Fisher led 13-2 at the break and cruised to the easy win.

Melissa Leonhard (three goals, two assists) and Taylor Hughes (two goals, three assists) led the way with five points each.   Leonhard also finished with seven draw controls.

Samantha Barton scored four goals, while Kara Ledgerwood added three points on one goal and two assists.Chrissy Cook, Emily Bryerton and Kristina Lombard each scored twice, while Jill Zerrillo tallied one goal and one assist.  Zerrillo also led Fisher with four caused
turnovers, while Marykate Edmunds forced three turnovers.

Tori Suto, Blythe Sheridan and Sierra Badger also scored in the win, while Erin Ward picked up an assist.

Freshman goalie Nicole Hart stopped five shots in the first half to improve her record to 3-0 on the year. Caroline Trpcevski and Molly Naylon split time in the second half and combined for three saves.

Fisher will return to action at 7 p.m. on Friday at Houghton College before closing out the regular season next Saturday at Alfred University.

NAZARETH v STEVENS
Nazareth outscored Stevens 6-3 in the second half to defeat the Ducks 10-8 in a women's Empire 8 lacrosse game on Saturday afternoon. Senior Megan Cregan scored all three of her goals in the second half to lead the Golden Flyers' rally.

With the victory, Nazareth improves to 8-6 overall and 4-2 in conference games. 

After trailing 5-4 at halftime, the Golden Flyers scored two goals in the opening 10 minutes of the second half to reclaim their lead. Sophomore Brooke Sullivan tied the score 1:33 into the second period after receiving a pass from junior Amy McIntosh. Senior Alyssa Johnston converted a free position opportunity to give Nazareth a 6-5 edge with 20:52 to play in regulation.

With about 11 minutes remaining, Cregan gave Nazareth a two-goal lead, 8-6, with two scores in a span of 54 seconds. Cregan's first goal was an unassisted score, then she scored on a free position shot less than a minute later. Sophomore Brianna Mancini gave Nazareth its first three-goal lead of the game with her first goal of the game, which was less than two minutes after Cregan scored her free position goal. Cregan earned the assist on Mancini's goal.

Nazareth allowed Stevens only one goal in the first 22 minutes of the second half to overcome its 5-4 halftime deficit. Erika Wilcox scored for the Ducks to tie the game at six goals apiece before the Golden Flyers' scoring run. Joey Galligan added two goals in the final 7:59 to trim the final margin to 10-8. Galligan's goals were sandwiched around Cregan's third goal of the game, which put Nazareth ahead 10-7 with 3:18 to play in the period. With her three goals, Cregan ranks second on the team with 30 goals on the season.

Junior Tara Prosak finished with 13 saves and eight goals against to earn the victory. Meg Collins also recorded 13 saves between the pipes for the Ducks. Collins allowed all 10 of Nazareth's goals.


ELMIRA v UTICA
The Elmira College Women's Lacrosse team used a strong first half to hold on late and upend host Utica, 6-5, Saturday afternoon at Gaetano Stadium. With the win the Soaring Eagles improve to 7-7 overall and 3-3 in Empire 8 play, while the loss drops the Pioneers to 8-5 and 2-4.

Elmira got off to a tremendous start scoring the contest's first four goals. At the 2:50 mark Jessica Blinkinsop '14 tallied her 10th goal of the year off a feed from Ashton Hogan '15. Over a five minute span Hogan added back-to-back scores of her own to make it 3-0. Two minutes later Marissa Mongillo '15 found the back of the net as the visiting Soaring Eagles led 4-0 after 10 minutes of play.

The Pioneers netted back-to-back scores in less than three minutes to get within 4-2, but Mongillo added another marker off a pass from Marki Michaels '13. The Soaring Eagles took a 5-2 advantage into intermission.

Utica played much stronger in the second half as they tallied three of the four goals in a defensive battle between two conference teams fighting to stay in the playoff hunt. Courtney Wheeler registered two of the three Pioneer second half goals. Hogan tallied her 20th of the year 3:22 into the second half, which proved to be the eventual game-winner.

Utica held advantages in almost every category including shots on goal (18-12), ground balls (16-14), draw controls (8-5), and free position shots (9-3). The Soaring Eagles committed 23 turnovers compared to just 14 for the hosts. However, Elmira had terrific goaltending as Mary Kate Gellerman '13 stopped 13 shots and only allowed five goals. Stephanie Belanger stopped six shots in the loss for Utica.

Mongillo finished with a game-high four draw controls, while Rebecca Matturro '14 forced three caused turnovers on the day. Hogan paced Elmira with three goals and one assist. Wheeler led the Pioneers with three scores.

The win today is crucial for Elmira's playoff hopes as they are now in a tie for fourth place in the conference standings with Stevens at 3-3. EC trails third place Nazareth (4-2 E8) who they will host at Campus Field on Saturday, April 27th beginning at 1:00 p.m. Stevens has one conference contest remaining next Saturday against Utica College.

ITHACA v ALFRED
Senior Tracy Rivas shattered a 31-year-old school record as the 13th-ranked Ithaca College women's lacrosse team (10-4, 6-0 Empire 8) stifled Alfred (3-6, 0-6 Empire 8), 22-3, Saturday afternoon at Higgins Stadium. The win secured Ithaca the top seed in the Empire 8 Championship Tournament which will take place May 4-5.

Rivas netted a game-best six scores to set the scoring record of 171 goals at 19:18 of the second half. Shawn Benoliel held the former record of 170 career goals since 1982 – a record set over the course of 52 games. Rivas has played in 66 games and tallied 233 points to rank second in overall points. The points record of 248 was set in 2004 by Michelle Schlegel.

The Bombers, who have won six straight, opened action with a 7-0 run and held a 15-2 margin at the half. Adding to the four consecutive goals that closed out the first frame, Ithaca found the back of the net five times to open the second, before Alfred made it a 20-3 game at 5:35. The Bombers scored a pair in the final three minutes to finalize all scoring.

Ithaca improved to 14-0 all-time against the Saxons in a series history dating back to 1999.

Ithaca, who was 4-for-5 in free position attempts, outshot Alfred, 37-11, owned a 26-16 gap in ground balls and won 17 of 27 draw controls.


HOUGHTON v HILBERT
Tyler Reese (Unionville, PA, Unionville High School) scored with 39 seconds left to give the Highlander women's lacrosse team its first win in program history, 14-13, over Hilbert College on Saturday.

Amanda Zacchigna (East Aurora, NY, East Aurora) and Reese staked Houghton to an early two-goal lead with back to back scores in the game's first three minutes, but the Hawks responded with four-straight goals to earn their own two-goal advantage.

The hosts pushed the lead to as many as three (7-4) with eight minutes left in the first half, but Zacchigna scored twice and Maesa Phongsamouth (Leominster, MA, Leominster) added another over the last two minutes of the first half and first minute of the second half to bring the Highlanders even with the Wildcats. Phongasmouth's goal came just before the first half buzzer. 

Houghton scored two of the next three goals to take a10-9 lead before the Hawks scored three straight to go up 12-10. The Highlanders got their own three-goal run to regain a goal advantage (13-12) with 4:27 left.

Hilbert tied the score at 13 at the 1:55 mark, setting up Reese for her game-winning heroics. Reese was fouled as the Highlanders were pressing for the go-ahead goal in the final minute. She converted the free position attempt and Houghton kept Hilbert from getting any dangerous scoring attempts in the closing seconds.

Zacchigna led the Highlanders with a career-high six goals and added an assist, eight draw controls and five ground balls. Reese added three scores and an assist. Nicole Mason(East Aurora, NY, East Aurora) contributed two golas and an assist.

Lauren Niswander (Peninsula, OH, Revere) started in goal and played just over 33 minutes, allowing 10 goals and making one save. Carly Congilosi (Boston, NY, Eden) picked up the win as she played the majority of the second half.