Nazareth Edges Stevens; Fisher Earns No. 2 Seed
NAZARETH 13, STEVENS 12
Visiting Nazareth got overtime goals from
Haley DeVona and
Brooke Sullivan Saturday and senior goalie
Ashley Kirch made a key save in the closing seconds of a 13-12 women's lacrosse victory over Stevens in the regular-season finale for both teams.
The victory at Stevens' DeBaun Athletic Complex clinched the regular-season Empire 8 title for the Golden Flyers, who improved to 12-3 overall and 7-1 in the E8. Stevens dropped to 12-4 overall and 6-2 in conference games. Nazareth will be the top seed and host for next weekend's conference tournament. The Golden Flyers will play fourth-seeded Ithaca in a first-round matchup Saturday. Second-seeded St. John Fisher and third-seeded Stevens will meet in the other semifinal. The championship game is Sunday May 3.
"It's exciting for our team and exciting for our program," said Nazareth Coach
Traci Lian. "We are proud to be able to host the conference tournament."
On Saturday, Nazareth scored the first four goals of the second half to snap a 5-5 deadlock. Stevens battled back and benefited from four Nazareth yellow cards in the second half to tie the score at 11-11 to force overtime. Kathleen Kalbian's goal with 2:00 left tied the score and resulted in a six-minute overtime.
DeVona's fourth goal of the game with 4:32 left in overtime gave Nazareth the lead for good and Sullivan added a free-position goal with 3:09 to go to give Nazareth a 13-11 lead. Julianna Ricci scored for Stevens with 2:45 left to trim Nazareth's lead to one goal.
The Golden Flyers then had the ball following a Stevens turnover, but Nazareth turned the ball over in the closing minute and Stevens was able to generate a free-position attempt following a Nazareth foul with :35 left. Kirch came up big for Nazareth by saving the free-position attempt by Kalbian to preserve the win.
Erika Wilcox scored five goals for Stevens, including two within the first 20 minutes of play as the Ducks surged to a 4-1 lead. Nazareth battled back as junior
Carly Gates scored three times in the first half. Gates and sophomore
Leah Marvin scored 13 seconds apart in the final minute of the half to square the score at 5-5.
Suzie Gray also scored for Nazareth in the first 30 minutes.
DeVona then went to work for Nazareth in the second half. She scored unassisted just 29 seconds into the half to break the tie and Nazareth never trailed again. Goals by
Kate Rothrock,
Bri Mancini and DeVona again followed within the first five minutes of the half as the Golden Flyers took a seemingly safe 9-5 lead. Stevens, though, stormed back to score the next three goals, including two following Nazareth yellow cards, to close within 9-8.
Goals by Rothrock and DeVona followed to help Nazareth regain its three-goal cushion, but Stevens came back again with two more extra-man goals and the unassisted goal by Kalbian to send the game to overtime.
Nazareth had a 28-27 edge in shots, but was able to control possession time by winning 18 of 29 draw controls. DeVona and Gates each had five draw controls and junior defender
Kayla McKay had three. Kirch finished with five saves.
ST. JOHN FISHER 18, ELMIRA 11
The nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College women's lacrosse team earned a 18-11 win over host Elmira College on Saturday in the regular-season finale for both teams.
With the win, Fisher, ranked No. 23 in the latest national coaches poll, improves to 11-5 overall and 7-1 in the Empire 8 Conference. Elmira finishes the year at 2-14, 1-7.
Fisher has earned the No. 2 seed in next week's Empire 8 Conference Championship and will play No. 3 Stevens Institute of Technology on Saturday at top-seeded Nazareth College.
Fisher never trailed in today's game, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first five minutes, but the Soaring Eagles were persistent, nipping at Fisher's heels throughout most of the game.
Fisher, who led 7-6 at the half, scored two goals in the opening moments of the second half to take a 9-6, but Elmira answered right back, scoring three straight and tying the game at 9s with 21:48 left in the game.
The Cardinals, however, went on a 5-1 run over the next 10 minutes to take a 15-10 lead with under 10 minutes to go and held on for the victory.
Sophomore
Jordan Johnson led the Cardinals with a career-high six goals. She also added two assists, marking a career-high for points with eight.
Sierra Badger tallied four points on three goals and one assist, while
Chrissy Cook and
Erin Ward each totaled three points (two goals, one assist).
Cori Holbrook and
Samantha Barton also scored twice, while
Lindsey Shoales also scored in the win.
Abbie Reed and Badger each totaled a team-high four draw controls, while
Melissa Lindine and Barton scooped up a team-high three ground balls.
Carly Sullivan, Shoales and Barton each caused two turnovers.
Goalie
Molly Maguire and
Nicole Hart combined to make four saves.
HARTWICK 11, ALFRED 8
Hartwick trailed host Alfred at halftime but out-scored the Saxons 7-3 in the second half to secure an 11-8 victory in the season finale for the Hawks Saturday at Yunevich Stadium.
The Hawks led by a count of 8-7 with under nine minutes remaining in the game but consecutive tallies from
Emily Jweid and two from
Lauren Rosenberg in the final eight minutes would put the game away.
Jweid tied for game-highs with four goals and six points. Rosenberg added four tallies for 'Wick.
Alfred held a 2-0 lead after goals in the opening eight minutes of action. Hartwick answered with a three-goal rally in a 1:59 span to grab the upper hand, 3-2. Jweid,
Lisa Littleton, and Rosenberg registered the Hawks' goals.
The two teams traded goals with under ten minutes left in the half.
Ashley Werner scored the Hawks' goal with 6:12 left. The Saxons, however, would score twice with under two minutes left, including the go-ahead goal with 18 seconds left, to take a 5-4 advantage into halftime.
The Hawks held a 17-10 edge in shots in the opening half. Alfred goalie Shannon Gray made 11 saves in the half to help the Saxons to the halftime lead.
Rosenberg scored from Jweid to tie the game 1:12 into the second half. Jweid then scored from Werner 1:54 later to put Hartwick in front for the remainder of the game. Jweid tacked on her third of the day to give 'Wick a two-goal cushion, 7-5.
Alfred inched closer at the 17:15 mark.
Colleen Jones put the Hawks back up by two with an unassisted goal 1:48 later. Alfred closed the gap to 8-7 with 12:30 remaining and the game stayed that way for the next four and a half minutes until Jweid's fourth goal started the late rally for the Hawks which sealed the result.
The Hawks led the Saxons in shots (31-19) and ground balls (26-19). 'Wick held a large advantage in draw controls, 16-5.
Jweid dominated the draw with a game-high nine.
Meagan Wright contributed three draw controls. Fifteen different Hawks recorded at least one ground ball, led by
Courtney Coons and
Megan Young, who each registered three. Young and
Ally Naja each caused a pair of Saxon turnovers in the game.
Alfred was led by Kaitlyn Button who scored four goals and added two assists. Kerry Mack delivered a pair of assists.
Steph Luce made eight saves in her final game at Hartwick. She finishes her career with 579 saves, good enough for third all-time in the Hawks' record books.
Carla Centanni made one save in the final 10 minutes.
UTICA 17, HOUGHTON 9
Senior
Morgan DuPont (Wynantskill, NY/Averill Park) capped her collegiate career with a school-record 11 points as the Utica College women's lacrosse team topped visiting Houghton College 17-9 in Empire 8 Conference play at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium on Saturday. DuPont broke her own single game school-record with eight assists and she also added three goals.
The Pioneers closed out their 2015 campaign with a 9-6 overall record and a 4-4 mark in the Empire 8 Conference. UC narrowly missed out on earning a bid into the Empire 8 Conference Tournament. Utica has now won at least nine games in each of the last three seasons and the Pioneers have finished the season with a record of .500 or better for the fourth consecutive season.
Utica's
Megan Kane (Staten Island, NY/Tottenville) registered two goals, one assist and eight ground balls in the Pioneers' senior day victory. Kane capped her career ranked second on the College's all-time scoring list with 180 career points. Her 147 career goals rank third on the College's all-time list. She finished the season with 46 goals, good for sixth on the program's single season list. Kane is also the program's all-time leader with 213 career ground balls and she set a new single season record with 73 ground balls this year. Her 169 career draw controls rank second all-time at Utica.
DuPont is the College's all-time leader with 104 career assists, marking the first player in program-history to record over 100 assists in a career. Her 161 career points rank third all-time at UC.
Utica sophomore
Rebecca Plunkett (Kings Park, NY/Kings Park) finished the day with a season-high six points (five goals, one assist). In just two seasons with the Pioneers, Plunkett has registered 82 points (70 goals, 12 assists).
The Pioneers jumped out to a 6-3 lead in the first half and outscored the visitors 11-6 in the final 30 minutes to earn the eight goal victory.
Houghton (5-10, 2-6 Empire 8) was led by three goals each from Jennifer Zacchigna and Elizabeth Westwood. Kourtnie Franklin added 19 saves (12 in the second half) for the Highlanders.
Utica freshman
Brooke Miller (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) registered three goals and finished her freshman season with 28 goals and five assists. Senior
Patricia Kane (Staten Island, NY/Tottenville)capped her career with one goal and a career-high 11 ground balls.
Tewasherake Barnes (Akwesasne, NY/Salmon River) netted one goal for UC and finished her sophomore campaign with a career-best 17 points (14 goals, three assists). Junior
Courtney Wheeler (Ava, NY/Rome Free Academy) added two goals and one assist for the Pioneers. Wheeler now has 98 career points through three seasons at Utica.
Utica goalie
Kells Casey (Sandwich, MA/Kimball Union Academy) stopped four shots in the victory.