Stevens, Fisher and Elmira Earn E8 Wins

3/28/2014 8:43:00 PM

Stevens 11, Utica 10
The Stevens Institute of Technology women's lacrosse team improved to 2-0 in the Empire 8 and 4-5 overall with an 11-10 win at Utica College Friday afternoon.
 
After Utica took a brief 5-4 lead early in the second half, the Ducks ripped off three scores over a span of 4:37 to open a 7-5 cushion with 23:21 left in the game. Utica came right back with two goals of its own to make it a 7-7 game with 21:08 remaining, but the Ducks responded with a pair to open a 9-7 advantage at the 18:54 mark. 
 
Freshman midfielder Kathleen Kalbian won the ensuing draw control, and the Ducks pushed their lead to three when freshman attack Laura Roberts tallied her first of the afternoon, helping the Ducks to a 10-7 edge.
 
From that point, Utica scored three-straight times, tying the game at 10 apiece with 6:07 left in regulation and seizing the momentum.
 
Despite giving up a three-goal cushion, Stevens was able to come back and regain the lead when Wilcox scored for the fourth time in the game – this one via a free-position shot – to give Stevens an 11-10 lead with 4:17 remaining.
 
Each team had chances but could not score down the stretch as Kalbian intercepted a Utica pass as time wound down to seal the win for the Stevens.
 
The first half featured strong runs from each side, and the two teams went into the intermission tied at four-all.
 
The hosts scored the game's first three goals, getting on the board 40 seconds in and adding tallies at 27:13 and 26:35 for a 3-0 margin.
 
Stevens slowed the momentum with some solid defense and came roaring back, scoring four-straight goals. Just 19 seconds after Utica's third marker, Wilcox placed the Ducks on the scoreboard, and 4:32 later, freshman midfielder Mariel Haubrich made it a 3-2 contest. Rafferty knotted the game at three-all with a shade under 20 minutes remaining in the first period, and about six minutes later, junior attack Caitlyn Hughes gave the Ducks a 4-3 lead.
 
The defenses shined for the next 12:42 as neither team was able to find the back of the net, but with 53 ticks in the half Utica pulled even with a score from freshman Rebecca Plunkett.
 
Each team scooped up 13 first-half ground balls, with Utica holding an 11-10 margin in shots and a 6-3 edge in draw controls.
 
Rafferty led the Ducks with five points on two goals and three assists, and Wilcox notched four goals, three ground balls, one draw control and one caused turnover. Kalbian finished with a career-high 12 ground balls, eight draw controls, three caused turnovers, two goals and one assist in a monster all-around performance. Haubrich had a goal, three ground balls and two caused turnovers.
 
Stevens ended with a 22-21 edge in shots and converted 12-of-14 clears. Each team had 12 draw controls, and the Ducks had a 30-27 edge in ground balls.


Elmira 16, Hartwick 15
After trailing for the majority of today's contest, the Elmira College women's lacrosse team (4-4, 1-1 E8) used a late surge to clinch a 16-15 win over Hartwick College (4-6, 0-2 E8).  Elmira held Hartwick scoreless for the final 11:50 of today's contest to claim EC's first Empire 8 Conference victory of the season.

Moorea Spoljaric '16 finished with two goals today, none bigger than her second score of the afternoon as her free position goal with 25 seconds remaining in the game sealed Elmira's 16-15 victory.  Spoljaric was one of five players to finish with two or more goals today.  Leading the offensive efforts for EC were classmates Ashton Hogan '15 and Marissa Mongillo '15, both of whom scored four goals apiece.  

The first half of play was a close affair as the two teams traded goals for the first 12 minutes, resulting in a 4-4 tie with 17:54 to play in the half.  Hogan scored two of Elmira's first four goals while Natalie Robinson '15 and Mongillo netted the other two.

Hartwick took control of the first half as the Hawks scored four unanswered goals to take an 8-4 lead with about eight minutes remaining.  However, the Soaring Eagles outscored the Hawks 4-1 in the final 6:05 as Elmira took a 9-8 deficit into the break.

Looking to build on their halftime lead, Hartwick netted the opening goal of the second half but a pair of free position goals by Elmira's Kylie Connell '17 and Mongillo evened things up 10 apiece. The Hawks answered with a goal but scores by Hogan and Jessica Blinkinsop '14 gave the Purple and Gold their first lead of the game, 12-11 at the 17:12 mark.

Elmira's lead was short-lived however, as the Hawks scored three goals in 50 seconds to take a 14-12 lead with 15:43 to play in the game.  Following Hartwick's three tallies, the Soaring Eagles and Hawks would trade goals as Hartwick maintained their two goal advantage at the 11:50 mark.

With the game winding down, rookie Kelsey Quail '17 gave the Soaring Eagles life with her first goal of the contest at the 5:44 mark. Quail's goal sparked Elmira's offense as Mongillo scored a little over a minute later, tying things up at 15-15 with 4:41 to play.

Hartwick had an opportunity to take the lead when they were awarded a free position with 2:39 to play.  However, EC netminder LeAnna Presler '14 would make her biggest save of the season as she denied Hartwick's Emily Jweid on the free position shot to keep the game tied at 15-15. 

Following Presler's heroic save, Elmira successfully cleared the defensive zone but a turnover in the offensive zone, coupled with an EC foul, put the ball on Hartwick's stick for the remaining 1:38.

From there, Hogan made two of the biggest plays of the game as she forced a Hartwick turnover and scooped up the ground ball, giving EC a chance for the win as the Soaring Eagles settled into the offensive zone with a minute and a half to play.

With one minute remaining in regulation, Head Coach Katie Augustine-Moore called a timeout to draw-up Elmira's final play.  Following the timeout, EC handed the ball to second-year standout Spoljaric, who drew a foul which led to a free position attempt with 29 seconds left.  On the free position attempt, Spoljaric took a handful of strides before burying the game-winning goal in the lower right corner. 


St. John Fisher 21, Alfred 2
The No. 14 St. John Fisher College women's lacrosse team got back to their winning ways on Friday, handily defeating visiting Alfred University by a final score of 21-2 to capture their first Empire 8 Conference win of the season.

Twelve different Cardinals would score for Fisher en route to their highest-scoring game of the season, including the first eight goals of the contest.

Senior Taylor Hughes would open the scoring just 1:54 into the game on a feed from Lindsey Shoales. Fisher would never look back.
Just four minutes later, Hughes would return the favor to Shoales for Fisher's third score of the day.

Kaitlyn Button would tally Alfred's first goal of the game just under 13 minutes into the first half on a free position shot.  She would score the Saxons only other goal midway through the second half.

Danielle Falck would lead all goal scorers with four, three coming in just over a six-minute span in the first half.   Sierra Badger finished with three goals and four assists on the day for a total of seven points, while Erin Ward added one goal and five assists.

Hughes finished with two goals and one assist, leaving her just two points shy of breaking the all-time record for points in Fisher women's lacrosse history.

Caroline Trpcevski picked up the win in net for Fisher.
 

Nazareth 21, Houghton 9
Junior Brooke Sullivan erupted for a career-best seven goals and added an assist Friday as visiting Nazareth dominated Houghton in a non-conference women's lacrosse game, 21-9.

The Golden Flyers improved to 3-4 overall, while Houghton dropped to 3-5. Nazareth visits St. John Fisher Saturday to resume its Empire 8 Conference schedule at 3 p.m. In addition to Sullivan, seniors Amy McIntosh and Alex McFaddin each scored three goals and juniors Brianna Mancini and Suzie Gray scored twice each. Freshman Kate Rothrock had four assists.

Nazareth scored six of the game's first seven goals and Sullivan scored four times in the first half as the Golden Flyers built a commanding 13-3 lead. McIntosh scored twice before the game was four minutes old and Mancini scored at the five-minute mark as Nazareth forged an early lead.

After Houghton scored a free-position goal, Nazareth answered with goals from Mancini, McFaddin and Sullivan to go up 6-1. Sullivan scored just 26 seconds into the second half to extend Nazareth's lead to 14-3, but Houghton scored the next two goals on free-position shots to move within 14-5. Nazareth then scored the next four goals -- two by Sullivan, one each from sophomore Carly Gates and freshman Gabrielle Charles -- to go up 18-5 and the Golden Flyers weren't seriously challenged thereafter.

Nazareth had 32 shots and 22 ground balls and won 16 draws. Senior Tara Prosak played the first half and made five saves. Junior Ashley Kirch had two saves in the second half.