|
| Michelle Kelly
became the school's all-time leading scorer with her four goals on Saturday |
No. 10 Skyhawks Upset Bid Comes Up Short Against C.W. Post
Easton, Mass. - The tenth ranked Skyhawks scored five times in the final seven and a half minutes, but it wasn't enough as No. 2 C.W. Post held on for the 18-16 victory at W.B. Mason Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The loss drops Stonehill to 10-5 to end their regular season while the Pioneers improve to 14-1 on the year.
It was the Skyhawks who captured the momentum early on, scoring four times in the games first six minutes on goals by Michelle Kelly (Mendham, N.J.), Liza Gross (Loudonville, N.Y.), Leyla Kuz-Dworzak (Norwalk, Conn.) and Carly Keeley (Agawam, Mass.).
Jackie Napoli ended the Stonehill run at the 20:42 mark, but Kuz-Dworzak's second goal of the game less than a minute later gave the Skyhawks back a four goal advantage.
That would be the last lead of the game for Stonehill as the second ranked Pioneers scored ten unanswered goals over the final 19 minutes of the half, highlighted by three goals apiece from Napoli and Katie Hogan to grab a 11-5 lead at intermission.
C.W. Post scored two of the first three goals of the second half as well and looked to be cruising, however two Stonehill goals cut the lead to five with 23:03 left.
Two Pioneer goals over the next four minutes pushed the lead back to seven but three consecutive Skyhawk tallies, two by Kelly, cut the lead to four. C.W. Post tried to stop the run with a goal, but the Skyhawks continued to build momentum.
Senior Rebecca Cottom (Belmont, Mass.) scored her first goal of the game at the 7:34 mark and Kelly added another 30 seconds later to cut lead to 16-13. With just 6:05 left, freshman Sam Lynott's (Holbrook, N.Y.) free position goal brought Stonehill within two, at 16-14.
However, two more Pioneer goals stretched the lead by to four, the second of which came off the stick of Hogan with 3:13 left.
The Skyhawks weren't done, as Liza Gross scored with 1:05 left and then again 30 seconds later to bring Stonehill within two once again. Gross grabbed the ensuing draw control but shots by freshmen Kiley Corson (Bow, N.H.) and Lynott couldn't find the net before time expired.
C.W. Post goalie Sam Powers made 13 saves in net, with 12 of them coming in a second half that saw Stonehill outshoot their opponents 27-14. Senior goalie Justine Ferland (Portsmouth, N.H.) finished with nine saves on the afternoon.
Kelly's four goals on the day gave her 327 points in her career, breaking the school's all-time scoring record of 326 set by current head coach Katie Lambert-Conover in 2003.
Gross had a team high six points with four goals and two assists, and also added three draw controls.
Stonehill will be the second seed in the upcoming NE-10 Tournament and must now wait to see who they will play.