Pioneer Rally Comes Up Short Against Wagner, 13-11
4/8/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
April 8, 2005
FAIRFIELD, CT (April 8, 2005) - The Wagner College women's lacrosse team built a 8-1 lead in the first half and withstood a furious Sacred Heart comeback to come away with a 13-11 Northeast Conference victory Friday afternoon. Wagner junior Heather George scored six goals to lead the Seahawks who improve to 5-7 overall and 3-1 in the NEC with the win. SHU falls to 7-5 overall with the loss and 2-3 in league play.
The Seahawks took control early and dominated the first 30 minutes of play. Junior Anne Thomas got things rolling with her fourth goal of the season 3:35 into the game and the Seahawks were off on a 7-0 run before SHU could answer. Fellow junior Kim Herzog followed with her fourth goal of the year off a feed from Jessica Ellis and George scored back-to-back goal unassisted. Senior Leann Matta made it 5-0 at the 13:23 mark before George's third tally of the game just 25 seconds later. Ellis finished off the run at 11:50, scoring unassisted for a 7-0 Seahawk advantage.
SHU would finally break through at the 9:18 mark when freshman Katie Salamone (Baltimore, MD) scored her 15th marker of the year. Wagner wasted little time in answering as Matta put up her second goal of the day just 1:13 later from the free position to send the Seahawks into the half with an 8-1 advantage. Wagner out shot Sacred Heart 17-8 in the half and forced 13 Pioneer turnovers.
It would be a tale of two halves for Sacred Heart as the Pioneers were the ones who dominated play for much of the second half. SHU struck first, 26 seconds in to the half as senior Natalie Smith (Wantagh, NY) was awarded a free position shot and quickly deposited it in the back of the net. Wagner's Darby Biggart bounced the lead back to seven, 9-2, with her 20th goal of the game at 24:02.
The Pioneers dominated the next four minutes of action, scoring four unanswered goals to get within 9-6 with 20:47 to play in the game. Sophomore Brianna Bubeck (Bethlehem, NY) started and ended the run with a pair of goals sandwiched around goals by Salamone and senior JoAnn Montesarchio (Cortlandt Manor, NY). Wagner stopped the run and made it 10-6 on George's fourth score of the afternoon with just over 15 minutes to play.
SHU used another run to slice the lead down to just one, 10-9, with 12:51 left in the game. Sophomore Maureen Hohn (Lutherville, MD) scored on a pass from fellow sophomore Heather Gureckis (Nashua, NH) at 14:44. Gureckis then scored twice, once unassisted at the 14 minute mark and then from Salamone at 12:51, to get the Pioneers to within one.
George again gave the Seahawks an answer, taking the ball the length of the field off a SHU turnover to score her fifth goal of the afternoon with 10:31 left. Biggart gave the Seahawks a three-goal advantage with 4:16 left, scoring off a pass from Matta. SHU's Smith scored from the free position at 2:29 to get the Pioneers to within 12-10, but George provided the clincher just 40 second later, scoring her sixth goal on a free position shot of her own to all but ice it. Another free position tally by Smith just 27 seconds later put SHU down 13-11, but a pair of Pioneer turnovers and a save by Wagner goalie Erica Brown preserved the win in the closing seconds.
Despite being out played in the first half, Sacred Heart responded in the second half out shooting the Seahawks 24-8 in the period while also winning 11 of the 16 draws and forcing 11 turnovers. Wagner, however, made all eight shots count, scoring five times in the half to thwart the Pioneer rally.
Smith finished a perfect three-for-three from the free position to lead all SHU scorers. Both Gureckis and Salamone scored twice with an assist. Senior Maggie Brauer (Blauvelt, NY) made eight saves in goal.
In addition to George's six goal day, Matta finished with three points on a pair of goals and an assist. Biggart added two scored and Ellis scored once and assisted on another. Brown made 10 saves in the cage to earn the win for the Seahawks.
The Pioneers return to action on Wednesday, April 13th when they travel to Marist College for a 7:00 pm start.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
