Fisher, Ithaca and Naz Tally Another Win

4/13/2014 3:18:00 PM

Nazareth 16, Utica 7
Featuring a balanced offensive attack that included 10 different goal scorers, Nazareth put forth a solid effort from start to finish Sunday in a 16-7 women's lacrosse victory over visiting Utica in a key Empire 8 Conference game.

Freshman Kate Rothrock paced Nazareth with a career-best six points on three goals and three assists. Freshman Gabrielle Charles added a career-best three goals, while junior Brooke Sullivan scored twice and secured six draw controls. Junior Brianna Mancini also scored twice. Two other freshmen -- Heather Groot and Maggie Namy -- netted their first career goals, while junior defender MacKenzie Haley scored for the first time this season and just the second time in her career.

Nazareth never trailed Sunday as the Golden Flyers scored three times before the game was eight minutes old. They led 8-3 at the half as eight different players scored. Charles, Amy McIntosh and Carly Gates scored the first three goals before Utica interrupted the string with an unassisted goal at the nine-minute mark. Nazareth then scored five straight to take an 8-1 lead. Junior Suzie Gray scored off an assist from Gates, then Sullivan scored on a free-position shot with 12:26 left in the half to make it 5-1. Kate Rothrock scored unasssisted and then assisted on goals by Mancini and Groot.

Utica then strung together three straight goals -- the last two of the first half and the first one of the second -- to close within 8-4. Nazareth then rattled off the next five goals to regain control at 13-4. Charles scored the first two goals of the run, then Sullivan scored her second goal of the game off a fine assist from defender Hannah Prince, who earned her first career point. Goals by Mancini and Haley followed to complete the run.

Kate Rothrock scored Nazareth's next two goals and had the assist on Namy's goal with 9:26 left.

Utica had advantages in shots (27-22) and ground balls (20-15), but Nazareth had a 14-11 advantage in draw controls and converted all four of its free-position opportunities. Senior goalie Tara Prosak made eight saves and allowed five goals in 48 minutes. Junior Ashley Kirch played the final 12 minutes and made three saves.


St. John Fisher 19, Hartwick 6
The nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College women's lacrosse program opened the game up with a 6-0 run over the first 12 minutes and never looked back, as the No. 19 Cardinals cruised to 19-6 win over host Hartwick College on Sunday.

With the win, Fisher improves to 9-3 overall and 4-1 in the Empire 8 Conference.

Samantha Barton and Taylor Hughes both scored goals in the opening three minutes to put Fisher up for good.  Hartwick cut Fisher's lead to 10-3 with just over five minutes left in the first half, but Fisher ended the period with a three-goal spurt and scored the first four goals of the second half to pull away.
 
Barton led the Cardinals with five points on three goals and two assists, while Hughes finished with four goals.  Freshman Jordan Johnson also tallied four points on one goal and three assists, while adding three ground balls.

Erin Ward and Bridget Alberts both finished with three goals.  Lindsey Shoales scored twice, while Jill Zerrillo, Kristina Lombard and Emily Bryerton each scored as well.  Sierra Badger registered one assist in the win.

Marykate Edmunds led Fisher with five ground balls and three caused turnovers.   Danielle Falck finished with a team-high four draw controls.

Goalies Caroline Trpcevski and Nicole Hart combined to make three saves.


Ithaca 19, Alfred 1
The 15th-ranked Ithaca College women's lacrosse team (8-4, 4-0 Empire 8) picked up its seventh straight victory with a 19-1 win at Alfred (1-7, 0-4 Empire 8) Sunday afternoon.
 
Ithaca posted 15 first-half goals and added four in the second as 12 student-athletes scored for the Bombers.
 
Sophomore Ally Runyon matched a career-high to lead the game with five goals. Junior Emily Peters, sophomore Riley Marion and freshman Morgan Racicot each scored twice and recorded one assist. Freshman Morgan Cadwell also had three points on one goal and two assists. JuniorDelaney Gilson and sophomore Taylor Purvis each tallied one goal and one assist. Senior Becky Guzzo dished out a pair of assists.
 
Juniors Natalie Lang, Molly Fischer and Ali Woller, sophomore Erika Johnson and freshman Gaby Berne accounted for the Bombers' other five scores. Sophomore Mackenzie Robinson had one assist.
 
Marion and freshman Olivia Oppenheim won three draws each. Defensively, Marion had two caused turnovers. Freshman Emily Ross picked up the win in goal making two stops in the first 30 minutes. Senior Brittany Romano had two saves in the second.
 
The Bombers outshot Alfred 36-6 and won 15 of the 22 draw controls. Ithaca led the ground ball count 16-10.


Canton 14, Elmira 13
The Elmira College women's lacrosse team held SUNY Canton scoreless over the final 14:12 of regulation as the Soaring Eagles staged a comeback, but their efforts came up just one goal short as EC fell 14-13 to the Roos. Ashton Hogan'15 and Moorea Spoljaric'16 each tallied a game-high five goals in the loss.
 
The Purple and Gold got off to a slow start as Canton scored six goals in the first 5:40 of the first half to take a 6-1 lead. EC, however, would respond over the next 20 minutes of play as the Soaring Eagles erased Canton's five-goal lead to tie the game at six. Rebecca Matturo'14 started the scoring run with a man-up goal, which was assisted by Bridget Keefe'14, and then Hogan and Spoljaric went to work as the duo traded goals. The Roos would finally break their dry-spell with a man-up goal of their own, only to be answered by Spoljaric, who netted her fourth goal of the half. Canton would get one more goal before halftime to take a 8-7 lead into the break.
 
Hogan tied the game at eight goals apiece shortly after the start of the second half, but EC would surrender three straight goals to the Roos as Elmira fell behind 11-8 with 22:00 left on the clock. Spoljaric and Matturo would each score again to make it a one-goal game, but another three unanswered goals from Canton made it a 14-10 game with 14:12 to play.
 
From that point on, Elmira's defense would shut the Roos down as EC attempted to erase the four-goal deficit. Natalie Robinson '15 gave the Soaring Eagles life with just over seven minutes left in regulation with her first goal of the afternoon, but EC would go quiet for over five minutes until Hogan regained her scoring touch. The junior forward scored back-to-back goals just 30 seconds apart from each other, making it a 14-13 game with 1:31 on the clock. Unfortunately for EC, Canton would win the ensuing draw control and run out the remaining time on the clock as Elmira would go on to lose by the 14-13 score.

In addition to the five goals scored, Hogan added two assists for a game-high seven points and controlled seven draws. Matturo tallied two goals and an assist for three points while also adding five ground balls, two caused turnovers, and two draw controls. Both Marissa Mongillo '15 and Kylie Connell '17 recorded one assist on the afternoon while Mongillo turned in a well-rounded effort with three ground balls, four caused turnovers, and three draw controls.


Team Standings (4/13)

SCHOOL	CONF	OVERALL
Ithaca	4-0	8-4
Stevens	4-0	6-6
St. John Fisher	4-1	9-3
Utica	3-3	8-4
Nazareth	2-2	5-7
Elmira	1-3	4-8
Hartwick	0-5	5-9
Houghton	0-0	3-8
Alfred	0-4	1-7
Houghton is an NCAA provisional member and games against the Highlanders will not impact conference records/standings.