Sacred Heart Pioneers Chase Away Blackbirds, 12-8
4/1/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
April 1, 2005
FAIRFIELD, CT (April 1, 2005) - The Sacred Heart women's lacrosse team battled back from a 6-3 deficit with six-straight goals to come away with a 12-8 Northeast Conference victory over visiting Long Island University Friday afternoon. Sophomore Heather Gureckis, (Nashua, NH) scored four goals as the Pioneers improved to 6-3 overall and 2-1 in league play. This game brought Long Island to 2-5 overall and 1-1 in league play.
Long Island University took an early lead dominating the first ten minutes of the game with two goals from Chrissie Carleton. Senior Natalie Smith (Wantagh, NY) got the Pioneers on the board at 25:07 but an Amy Rizzo goal a minute and a half later made it 3-1 LIU. Gureckis made it 3-2 with her first of the day at 20:45 and the game held there for the next nine minutes.
LIU went up 5-2 when Kayleigh Graves and Nichole Lopez, who scored her first of the year, found the back of the net at 11:20 and 10:25, respectively. Gureckis scored again just 22 seconds later but another Graves goal gave the Blackbirds a 6-3 advantage with 7:33 to play. That would be were the Long Island offense would stall out, going scoreless until the 15:17 mark of the second half.
The Pioneers began their climb back as senior JoAnn Montesarchio (Cortlandt Manor, NY) won the draw following Graves's goal and sprinted in for her first goal of the afternoon just 10 seconds later. Freshman Kate Salamone (Baltimore, MD) kept it going at 2:24 and junior Emily Tully (South Windsor, CT) evened the score at 6-6 with just 27 ticks left in the half.
SHU kept the run going to start the second half as Montesarchio buried her second goal of the afternoon, unassisted, 29 seconds into play. Sophomore Brianna Bubeck (Behtlehem, NY) buried a shot from the free position at 23:08 and Smith gave the Pioneers a 9-6 lead with 17:21. LIU finally snapped the streak on Graves's third of the afternoon, cutting the lead to 9-7 with just over 15 minutes to play.
Guericks stepped up and scored the next two Pioneer goals, one unassisted and one from the free position, and Montesarchio put the game out of reach with her third goal to put SHU up 12-7 with 2:45 to go. LIU tacked one more on the scoreboard, from Elaine Bonilla, to produce the final 12-8 score.
Senior Maggie Brauer (Blauvelt, NY) made nine saves in the cage for Sacred Heart. The Pioneers held a 13-9 advantage on draw controls and finished three-of-five on free position shots.
LIU's Graves scored four total points on three goals and an assist. Rizzo scored once and passed out two helpers. Patricia Parker made seven saves in taking the loss for the Blackbirds.
The Pioneers will hit the road to face Mount St. Mary's this Sunday, April 3rd at 1:00 pm.
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