Pioneers Travel to LIU for NEC Opener - Game Notes
3/25/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
March 25, 2006
Complete Sacred Heart vs. Long Island Game Notes in PDF Format
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Pioneers Travel to LIU for NEC Opener.. The Sacred Heart women's lacrosse team takes the field Sunday afternoon to open the 2006 Northeast Conference schedule facing the Long Island Blackbirds in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Pioneers are looking to halt a seven-game slide and pickup their first win of the year. LIU opened the NEC schedule on Friday, falling at Monmouth 18-5.
The Series... The Pioneers lead the all-time series, 3-0. SHU has twice won on their home field, including a 12-8 win over the Blackbirds last season. The two teams met for the first time in 2003, LIU's first season of competition, with the Pioneers posting a 10-5 win in Brooklyn. SHU won 7-6 at home in 2004.
Up Next... SHU continues its four-game road trip with a stop at Lehigh on Tuesday, March 28th and at Wagner on Friday, March 31st.
Last Meeting with LIU... 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 victory over visiting Long Island University on April 1st, 2005. Sophomore Heather Gureckis scored four goals for the Pioneers. Long Island took an early lead dominating the first ten minutes of the game with two goals from Chrissie Carleton. 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 before Gureckis scored again. LIU tacked another on for a 6-3 advantage with 7:33 to play but went that would be were the Long Island offense would stall out, going scoreless until the 15:17 mark of the second half. SHU evened the score at 6-6 by the half and kept the run going to start the second half to take the lead for good. Senior Maggie Brauer 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.
Scouting the Blackbirds... The Blackbirds have three double digit scorers in Amy Rizzo, Nichole Lopez and Chrissie Carelton. Rizzo is tops on the team with 22 points coming off 16 goals and six assists. Lopez has 13 scores along with five assists while Carelton has eight tallies and a team-best 12 helpers. Last Time Out... The Sacred Heart women's lacrosse team got three goals from sophomore Elizabeth Ottey but a second half come back fell short as the Pioneers lost an 8-5 decision at Villanova. The Wildcats struck first but a pair of scores by Ottey gave the Pioneers a 2-1 lead just over 14 minutes into the game. It would be SHU's lone lead of the game as Villanova mounted a four-goal run over the final 15 minutes of the first half to lead 5-2 at the break. They kept the run alive into the second stanza making it 6-2 just over eight minutes in. SHU cut it to 6-4 on a free-position goal by Ottey and an Emily Tully marker mid way through the second but Villanova ended any Pioneer hopes of a comeback with back-to-back scores that pushed the lead back to four with just over five minutes to play. In addition to Ottey's four scores, junior Brianna Bubeck passed out two assists.
History... This is the Pioneer's eighth year of competition in the Northeast Conference. Sacred Heart has qualified for the NEC Tournament four times and posts a 71-62 Division I record. The Pioneers have posted 10 wins in each of the last three years and have not had a losing season since 1998.
