Elmira Upends Scranton in Season Finale, 13-8
Elmira, NY -- In the 2014 season finale, the Elmira College women's lacrosse team stretched a 4-3 halftime lead into a 13-8 victory over visiting University of Scranton, giving Elmira their first win in program history against the Royals.
Marissa Mongillo '15 fueled the Elmira offense as she posted a career-high five points on five goals, also marking a career-high for the third-year standout.
Elmira utilized a 14-9 advantage in draw controls to setup their attack, allowing the Purple and Gold to fire 31 shots, putting 23 of them on frame.
Moorea Spoljaric '16 controlled a team high four draws today while
Sami Risi '14 and Mongillo collected three apiece.
EC also had the advantage in two other key statistical categories today that contributed to today's win. Elmira finished today's contest with 26 ground balls, seven more than Scranton, the largest positive margin in that statistical category all season for the Soaring Eagles. The Purple and Gold also went 15-for-20 on clear attempts for a 75 percent success rate while denying the Royals on nine of their 24 clear attempts.
Just 13 seconds into today's contest, Elmira scored the game's opening goal thanks to Spoljaric, who after winning the draw control, raced through Scranton's defense to score her 41st goal of the season. About a minute and a half later,
Ashton Hogan '15 made it 2-0 with her 43rd goal of the season before Mongillo scored her first of five goals at the 19:37 mark, giving Elmira a 3-0 lead and forcing a Scranton timeout.
The Royals notched their first goal of the game at 16:33 mark of the half but less than a minute and a half later, Mongillo would score and give Elmira back their three goal cushion. However, Elmira's three goal lead would not hold up through the half as the Royals scored two unanswered goals to close the first half, trailing Elmira 4-3.
With just a one goal lead, Elmira looked to create some separation in the second half and did so as the Soaring Eagles pieced together a 7-0 scoring run that spanned nearly 10 minutes to take a commanding 11-3 lead. Mongillo netted three of Elmira's seven goals, while Risi scored two with Hogan and
Natalie Robinson '15 picking up the other two. Maybe most impressive about Elmira's scoring run was the situational scoring as one goal occurred with a player up, one with a player down, and two others scored on free position opportunities, both of those scores coming from Risi's stick.
Scranton would outscore Elmira 5-2 in the final 14:52 of today's game but it proved to be too little too late as the Soaring Eagles cruised to a 13-8 victory.
Elmira netminder
LeAnna Presler '14 made five saves today. Although this number is not overwhelming high, it was the key moments in which her saves occurred that made those five so ever important to Elmira's success as two of her stops came on Scranton free position attempts.
Offensively, Elmira was led by Mongillo's five goals, but several other Soaring Eagles played a vital role in today's win. Hogan finished with four points on three goals and one assist while Risi concluded her four-year career with a three-point effort, scoring twice and assisting on another.
Bridget Keefe '14 also had a solid contribution today, assisting on two Elmira goals, tying a career-best.