Box Score WORCESTER, Mass. – The Sacred Heart women's lacrosse team captured its first win of the 2016 season Saturday, defeating the Holy Cross Crusaders 14-10 at Holy Cross Field.
Jenna Liljeberg led the offense with four goals, while Caitlin Delaney and Kylie Calandra both had a hat-trick and an assist. Jesslyn Joseph and Averi Farhat each added two goals.
Despite Holy Cross (0-3) scoring first, Sacred Heart (1-1) quickly took the lead as Calandra and Farhat converted free position shots 19 seconds apart to give the Pioneers a 2-1 lead with 27:03 remaining in the first half. The Pioneers led 3-2 before back-to-back goals by Margie Smith and MacKenzie Bozel put Holy Cross ahead 4-3 at the 21:56 mark. Led by two Liljeberg tallies, Sacred Heart went on a 5-0 run to take an 8-4 lead with 12:29 to play in the half. The two sides then traded goals, as Joseph's free position goal with one second remaining in the half gave the Pioneers a 10-6 halftime advantage.
The Pioneers extended the lead to 11-6 early in the second half, but the Crusaders had one more rally in them. Mary Patalita scored two straight goals to make the score 11-8 with 12:59 remaining. Maddie Ward then scored with 8:43 to go to get Holy Cross within two at 11-9. That would be as close as the Crusaders would get. Sacred Heart scored three of the final four goals in the game to win 14-10.
Sacred Heart outshot Holy Cross 29-24 and won the groundball battle 18-13. Holy Cross had 13 draw controls to Sacred Heart's 12. Paige Hammick made six saves in the Pioneers' victory, while the Crusaders' Julia Maloney had 11 saves. Smith led the Crusaders with three goals.
The Pioneers close their season-opening three-game road swing on Thursday, Feb. 25th at Iona at 3 p.m.
First Half
- The teams traded goals for the first 10 minutes of the period, playing to a 4-4 tie.
- Joseph took the 5-4 lead with 17 minutes left for her third goal of the season.
- Sacred Heart's Delaney, Liljeberg, and Farhat each scored a goal to make the score 8-4. The Pioneers held Holy Cross without a goal for a stretch of 12:37 in the half.
- Joseph scored with one second left to put SHU back up by four, 10-6 at the half.
- Liljeberg finished the first half with a hat-trick, while Delaney, Farhat, and Joseph each scored two goals.
Second Half
- Calandra scored her third goal of the season just four minutes into the second to put SHU up 11-6.
- Over the next 20 minutes of the period, Holy Cross chipped away with three goals to lower Sacred Heart's lead to two, 11-9.
- With only six minutes left, both teams scored in a two-minute span to push it to 12-10.
- Delaney scored on an open net to put SHU up by three, 13-10, her seventh goal of the year.
