Junior Brooke Rudden led the Skyhawks with two goals and four assists for six points, including three points during the Skyhawks clinching run late in the second half. (PHOTO BY Emily Reynolds) |
Armstrong comes up with 12 big saves in Skyhawks net
Rudden leads offense with six points, including three in game deciding run
EASTON, Mass. (April 30, 2014) – Fourth-seeded Stonehill College, ranked 13th in this week's Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Division II poll and 14th in the Lacrosse Magazine Division II poll, held off fifth-seeded Le Moyne College, ranked 9th by the IWLCA and 10th by Lacrosse Magazine, in the second half for an 11-10 triumph in first round action of the 2014 Northeast-10 Conference women's lacrosse tournament at Timothy J. Coughlin Memorial Field at W.B. Mason Stadium tonight.
Stonehill (12-6, 9-3 NE-10), ranked sixth in this week's NCAA Division II North Regional rankings, advances to the NE-10 semifinal round for the 16th-straight year, hosted by top-ranked and top-seeded Adelphi University (17-0, 12-0 NE-10), where the Skyhawks will face the host Panthers on Saturday at 11 a.m. Adelphi earned a first round bye in the tournament, along with second-seeded and fourth-ranked University of New Haven (15-2, 11-1 NE-10). The NE-10 Championship is scheduled for Sunday in Garden City, N.Y., at 3 p.m. Le Moyne (12-5, 9-3 NE-10), ranked fourth in the North Region, will hear its NCAA Tournament fate on Sunday's NCAA Division II selection show via ncaa.com at 8 p.m.
Sophomore Remi DiRe spearheaded the Skyhawks defensive effort with three caused turnovers and four ground balls with two draws. (PHOTO BY SportsPix) |
Junior goalkeeper Ashley Armstrong (Northborough, Mass./Algonquin Regional) made seven of her 12 saves in the second half to turn back the Le Moyne rally, which had scored five of the first six goals in the second frame to draw even at 8-8 with 12:18 remaining. Armstrong stopped two free-position shots as the Dolphins converted just 1-of-6 on the night and registered three saves in the closing minute and a half, including a pair in the final 34-seconds with the final block coming with 10-seconds remaining to seal the win. Sophomore Remi DiRe (Winchester, Mass./Winchester) led the Skyhawks strong defensive effort with three caused turnovers, four ground balls and two draw controls, while senior captain Katherine McDonough (Westwood, Mass./Westwood) collected four ground balls and a caused turnover.
Junior Brooke Rudden (Hopkinton, Mass./Hopkinton) led the Stonehill offense with six points on two goals and four assists, while senior Kelsey Shannahan (Mendham, N.J./Morris Catholic) added three goals and an assist for four points with two ground balls and four draw controls. Junior Jillian Yung (Bridgewater, Mass./Bridgewater-Raynham) netted two goals and added a draw for the Skyhawks, while classmate Cassandra McGill (Westborough, Mass./Westborough) registered a goal and assist. Junior Lizzie Lane (Sandwich, Mass./Bishop Stang) chipped in with a key second half goal to go with a team-high four draws and a caused turnover.
Junior Catie McKay (Penfield, N.Y./Our Lady of Mercy) led Le Moyne with two goals and three assists for five points and a caused turnover. Senior Kathleen Conese (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool) added two goals and an assist for three points with four ground balls, three draw controls and a game-high four caused turnovers. Sophomore Claire Monnat (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) and junior Sam Yaro (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) both netted two goals for the Dolphins, with Monnat also chipping in with two groundballs and a caused turnover. Senior Victoria Nies (Syracuse, N.Y./Jamesville-DeWitt) chipped in with a goal and five draws.
Junior Molly Marbut (Edgewater, Md./South River) finished with just three saves in the Le Moyne goal as the Dolphins posted a 27-17 advantage for shots on the night, including 16-5 in the second half. Stonehill converted all three free-position shot attempts, all of which came in the opening half, and the Skyhawks also held a vital 12-11 edge for draw controls.
Senior Kelsey Shannahan posted three goals and an assist for the Skyhawks. (PHOTO BY SportsPix) |
Le Moyne opened the scoring when Monnat scored off a feed from McKay 1:27 into the game. Stonehill scored the next four goals, including a pair from Shannahan, to take a lead it would not relinquish and open a three goal lead (4-1) with Shannahan's second marker, assisted by Rudden, with 17:41 left in the half. McGill and Lane also contributed free-position goals during the run for the Skyhawks.
McKay pulled a goal back for Le Moyne with 13:09 remaining in the half, but Stonehill kept the pressure on with three more goals for a 7-2 lead after McGill set up Yung with 4:05 to go before the intermission. Junior Emily Kessel (Kennebunk, Maine/Kennebunk) and Rudden also chipped in goals for the Skyhawks during the three minute stretch.
Nies closed out the first half scoring to pull Le Moyne within four (7-3) at the break with an unassisted tally with 2:49 on the clock. The Dolphins kept the run going early in the second half, netting the first two goals of the frame to cut the gap to two (7-5) after a Yaro goal 5:50 into the half. Yung halted the rally briefly with her second goal of the night with 23:23 on the clock, but the Dolphins added three straight to knot the score (8-8) with an unassisted strike from Conese with 12:18 to go.
Stonehill held its ground and scored the next three goals, including a pair in which Shannahan and Rudden took turns setting each other up within a 1:05 span, to regain the lead. Rudden fed Shannahan for her third of the night with 10:03 to play and then Shannahan dished to Rudden for her second of the night with 8:58 on the clock. Rudden assisted a goal by freshman Elizabeth Vetter (Great River, N.Y./East Islip) that pushed the Skyhawks lead to three (11-8) with 5:08 on the clock.
Le Moyne wouldn't go quietly, winning the ensuing draw and getting a goal back less than a minute later as Yaro earned a free-position attempt and buried the try with 4:31 left. The Dolphins picked up the draw again and quickly cut the deficit to a single goal as McKay connected with Conese for her second of the night with 3:45 still to play.
Vetter was fouled on the draw to give Stonehill a valuable possession. After a timeout, the Skyhawks were able to work nearly two minutes off the clock, but Le Moyne sophomore Kayla Szcesniak (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool) was able to force a turnover to get the possession back and try to knot the score. Armstrong came up with a big save on McKay in transition, but the Dolphins came up with the ground ball to maintain possession. Armstrong stopped a shot by Yaro with 34-seconds to play and maintained possession, but her outlet pass was picked off by McKay and she had to come up with another stop on Yaro with ten seconds to go before finally running out the clock to send Stonehill through to the semifinals.
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