On Saturday, March 29 the women’s lacrosse team defeated the Siena Saints by the final score of 16-9. With the victory, the blue and white improved to 4-5 overall, and are now 1-0 in the MAAC, while Siena fell to 2-8 with an 0-1 MAAC conference record. This game marked the women’s lacrosse team’s inaugural appearance in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Leading the way for the Hawks was junior midfielder Allison Stathius. Stathius tallied six totals points for the game, including a career-high five assists. Senior attacker Stephanie Anderson added three goals in a season-high four point effort.
Junior midfielder Danielle Rakowitz scored three goals, while senior attacker Cassie Campasano and sophomore attacker Michelle Gonzales each contributed a pair of goals.
Freshman attacker Julia Schrof also contributed with one goal for the Hawks. The score was Schrof’s first on her young career.
As a team, the blue and white shot 3-for-4 on free position shots.
Katie Donohoe got the win for the Hawks as the junior goalkeeper saved a total of eight shots, and sophomore goalie Caroline Huelster also got on the books with a save in the final minute.
As for the Saints, Alyssa Treanor and Maddie Devine led their team with two goals each. Samantha DePasquale played just under 40 minutes in net for the Saints, and recorded four saves. Ashley Holdridge replaced DePasquale for the final 20 plus minutes, and finished with two saves on the game.
The first 12 minutes of the match went back and forth as both teams traded goals and kept it close. However, the Hawks then broke the game open on an 8-0 run which was sparked by Rakowitz’ s game-tying goal with 16:33 left in first half.
That run gave MU a 13-4 lead halfway through the second frame. Anderson highlighted the run with a season-high three goals, and Rakowitz added two of her own.
Sienna’s Treanor scored two of the Saints three consecutive goals to cut the lead to 13-6 with just 14:40 remaining in the contest. However, the Hawks would continue with their pace and keep the game out of reach with the final score of 16-9.
“I thought the two keys to today’s win were winning the draw and how patient the offense played,” said Head Coach Denise Wescott. “Siena threw a number of different defensive looks at us and I thought the offense read them and created some good looks. Having 10 different players score today was huge. Siena is very aggressive and I thought we stepped up and handled that. Kristina [Vangeli] had six draw controls and that really helped us gain possession and get good looks on the offensive end of the field.”
The Saints outshot the Hawks 27-26 but MU net minder Katie Donohoe corralled six saves earning her fourth victory of the year. Siena also held a 16-11 lead on draw controls.
The Hawks return to action on Wednesday, April 2, when old conference foe, the Quinnipiac University Bobcats, come to West Long Branch. The Bobcats recently recorded their first win of the season with a 12-11 victory over Manhattan. The game is scheduled to begin at 3 pm.