Keuka Slips Past Utica in Season Finale
Utica, NY (April 30, 2014) – The Utica College women's lacrosse team held a 9-9 tie with under four minutes to go but visiting Keuka College outscored UC 2-1 in the final 2:23 of the contest to earn the one goal victory, 11-10, in the Pioneers season-finale at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.
Utica wrapped up its 2014 campaign with a school-record 10 victories, but the Pioneers fell just shy of a bid into the Empire 8 Conference Tournament. UC wore special edition warm-ups throughout pregame in honor of former teammate
Kelly Stuhlman (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) who had to leave school at the end of last season due to a medical condition.
Six Utica seniors played in their final game at Gaetano Stadium including
Julia Primps (Ossining, NY/Ossining),
Jennifer Rogaski (Schenectady, NY/Colonie Central),
Vanessa Maines (Boxborough, MA/Acton-Boxborough Regional),
Lindsey Gelles (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park),
Keala King (St. Albans, VT/Bellows Free Academy) and
Alexandra Balboni (South Windsor, CT/South Windsor).
Utica junior
Megan Kane (Staten Island, NY/Tottenville) scored a team-best four points on three goals and one assist and she finished the season ranked eighth on the College's single season list with a team-high 45 goals. Her 56 points this year tied Liz Strodel for seventh on the program's single season list.
Primps wrapped up her collegiate career with two goals and she netted a career-high nine goals and added six assists this season. Primps totaled 23 goals and 16 assists over the course of her career.
Morgan DuPont (Wynantskill, NY/Averill Park) added one goal and one assist and finished her junior campaign with 54 points on 10 goals and a school-record 44 assists.
Courtney Wheeler (Ava, NY/Rome Free Academy) also added one goal and one assist, while two-sport athlete
Vanessa Maines (Boxborough, MA/Acton-Boxborough Regional) added two goals of her own in the loss.
Senior
Jennifer Rogaski (Schenectady, NY/Colonie Central) added a team-best six ground balls and caused four turnovers. The Pioneers finished the afternoon going 7-for-10 on free position shots.
The contest featured seven ties, but the visiting Storm seemed to have an answer every time UC scored as the Pioneers only led once throughout the entire game.
With the score knotted at 6-6 after Wheeler scored her 18
th of the season, the Storm netted two straight goals in a span of less than seven minutes to take an 8-6 advantage with 13:50 left in the contest. UC battled back with two consecutive goals in less than two minutes from the sticks of Maines and
Megan Kane (Staten Island, NY/Tottenville) to knot the score back up at 8-8 with 10:55 remaining.
Both teams exchanged goals and the score was tied at 9-9 with 4:35 remaining.
That's when Keuka's Sydney Forshay and Taylor Smith each scored in a span of 1:49 to take an 11-9 lead with 34 seconds remaining.
Utica's
Morgan DuPont (Wynantskill, NY/Averill Park) put a scare in the visitors by netting her tenth of the season with five seconds left to make it a one goal game, 11-10, but it proved to be too late as the Storm earned the one goal victory and improved to 14-2 overall on the season.
Keuka goalie Korie Fitzgerald stopped five shots in the win, while Utica's
Erin Jacobson (Staten Island, NY/Curtis) added two saves in the loss. Jennifer Burt netted a team-best three goals for Keuka, while Forshay and Smith each netted two goals apiece.