Pioneers Finish Season Opening Road Trip With Loss At Iona

Thursday, February 25

New Rochelle, NY

3 pm

Sacred Heart University Department of Athletics

1-2

Iona

2-1

Sacred Heart

Iona College

Pioneers Finish Season Opening Road Trip With Loss At Iona

2/25/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

NEW ROCHELLE, NY. – The Sacred Heart women's lacrosse team fell to Iona for its second loss of the 2016 season Thursday, losing to the Gaels 13-10, to finish their road trip 1-2.

Caitlin Delaney led the offense with three goals and an assist, while Jesslyn Joseph, Jenna Liljeberg, and Averi Farhat all tallied two scores on the day. Alyssa Pearce had a goal and two assists.

Iona (2-1) quickly took the lead scoring two goals 14 seconds apart to put Sacred Heart (1-2) behind 2-0 less than two minutes into the game. Pearce was able to get SHU on the board, 2-1, with 27:46 left to play in the half. Over the next eight minutes, Iona would go on a 4-1 run as a Katelyn Noschese goal gave the Gaels a 6-2 lead with 19:12 remaining in the half. The Pioneers would respond with a run of their own as Jenna Liljeberg, Caitlin Delaney and Jesslyn Joseph scored three unanswered to get within one of the Gaels, 6-5, with 10:29 left before halftime. Iona would stop the Pioneers' run there, scoring twice more before the half ended to go up 8-5.

The Gaels extended their lead to five 5:27 into the second half on goals by Noschese and Erin Pugh, making the score 10-5. The Pioneers started scoring, including two goals for Delaney to complete her hat trick, but couldn't close in as Iona traded goals to make the score 13-9 with seven minutes left. Despite ending the game on a 3-0 run, SHU fell 13-10 for their second loss on the season.

Iona outshot Sacred Heart 22-19 and won the groundball battle 21-17. Sacred Heart's Paige Hammick made five saves in goal, as Iona's Thea Leitman had three. The Gaels had 13 draw controls to Sacred Heart's 11. Jenna Tolzman led Iona with four goals, while Mary Kate McCormick had five assists and six points.

The Pioneers host their season home-opener against Fairfield on Wednesday, March 2^nd at 3 p.m.

First Half

-Iona went up 6-2 over the first 10 minutes of the half.

-The Pioneers held Iona without a goal for a stretch of 12:18 in the half, while Liljeberg, Delaney, and Joseph scored three times in the same time frame.

-Pearce finished the first half with a goal and two assists.

Second Half

-Iona took the scoring edge midway through the second period, outscoring SHU 3-2 to go up 11-7.

-Over the next 20 minutes, Iona and Sacred Heart traded goals to make it 13-9 Gaels.

-Delaney scored her third goal for a hat trick with seven minutes left, her 10th goal of the year.

-Farhat notched her second goal of the game with two minutes remaining to push the Pioneers within three, 13-10.