FAIRFIELD, CT (April 7, 2013) - The Sacred Heart women''s lacrosse team got out to a 9-1 lead on their way to a 17-4 Northeast Conference win over LIU Brooklyn Sunday afternoon on Campus Field.  SHU junior Kelsey Russo  (Lindenhurst, NY) scored three goals with two assists to lead eight Pioneers who found the back of the cage on Sunday.

The Pioneers (4-7, 3-2 NEC) scored a season-high 17 goals on 29 shots led by Russo's three and three each from juniors Shelby Vaccaro (Brightwaters, NY) and Jacqueline Zlevor (Mefield, MA).  Defensively, SHU held LIU to just 11 shots and forced 25 turnovers and nine failed clears.

Junior Samantha Villafranca (Wading River, NY) had five caused turnovers with a pair of grounders to led the defensive unit.  Freshmen Marisa Levings (Massapequa, NY) and Kristina Pike (Brick, NJ) scored their first collegiate goals in the win.

LIU Brooklyn (0-13, 0-6 NEC) scored the game's first goal as Alexic Cully sccoped up a SHU missed shot and went coast-to-coast scoring 52 seconds in.  From there, the Pioneers kept the Blackbirds off the scoreboard the rest of the half, posting nine-straight goals.  Senior Emily Pepe (East Quogue, NY) scored twice on the run, tallying markers just 36 seconds apart.

Russo buried a pair on the run as well as SHU won 10 of the 11 draws in the first half.  Russo finished the day with four draw wins as SHU held a 17-5 edge.  

The Blackbirds scored the first two goals of the second half, both on free position attempts.  Jesina Cantres and Trisha Yeoell scored at 27:04 and 25:29 to pull within 9-3.  The Pioneers used a time-out and responded with eight-straight goal, three coming off the stick of Zlevor.

The Pioneers will take their two-straight wins on the road next week to face Mount St. Mary's on Friday and Monmouth on Sunday.

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