In the 2014 regular season finale the blue and white (8-9; 5-3 MACC) stunned the Marist Red Foxes (13-3; 7-1 MAAC) as they handed them their first conference loss on Saturday by the final score of 12-11.
The Hawks never trailed in this contest and received goals from eight different players. Leading the way for MU was freshman midfielder Kendall Lutts who scored a career-high four goals including the game winner.
Lutts began the game scoring two goals in the first three minutes. The Red Foxes answered back to cut the Hawks lead to one. Sophomore attacker Michelle Gonzales put the blue and white back up a pair.
With 10 minutes remaining in the first half, MU increased their lead to 6-2. During that stretch, Lutts netted her third goal and senior attacker Danielle Rakowitz added a pair of her own.
Marist responded quickly to cut the lead to 6-3. Shortly after that, junior midfielder Allison Stathius scored to put the Hawks up by four. The Red Foxed ended the half by scoring three straight goals to trail 7-6.
Senior midfielder Kaliegh Gibbons scored at the 22:31 mark to increase MU’s lead to 8-6. However, Marist’s Jamie Romano answered less than a minute later. The two teams traded goals over the next three minutes in this closely contested matchup.
Freshman attacker Olivia Higson and freshman midfielder Claudia LaMarca added back to back goals to give the Hawks an 11-8 lead 12:44 left in regulation.
Marist would not quit as they scored two straight goals at the 11:05 and 7:36 mark to climb to within one. Lutts then scored her fourth goal of the game to give the Hawks a two goal lead with 2:34 remaining in the match.
Erin Schroeder cut the Hawks’ lead to one with just under two minutes to play. A shot in the final seconds sailed wide of the cage putting an end to a comeback attempt by Marist as they fell to MU 12-11.
Blue and white goaltenders Caroline Huelster and Katie Donohoe combined for seven saves while splitting time throughout the contest.
Marist held a 25-17 advantage in shots and dominated draw controls 19-6. The blue and white committed 14 turnovers while the Red Foxed had 17 on the afternoon.
“I’m very proud of the team,” said MU Head Coach Denise Wescott. “We did a lot of things offensively when we needed to and towards the end of the game we slowed them down from scoring. It was a team effort, we needed to work very hard to win this game. We didn’t back down and we kept fighting to get up by two, which we did. When we needed to make some saves and keep them away from the crease, we did that too. I’m pleased with the lack of turnovers we had today, I know that helped us. I’m just excited about being able to play next week.”
The Hawks, who earned the four-seed in next week’s MAAC Tournament, will face top seeded Marist at 5 pm at the Demske Sports Complex on the campus of Canisius College in NY.
