Lacrosse Drops Game to Western Connecticut

DANBURY, CT — Junior Devon Edwards (Islip, NY) scored five goals and handed out two assists to lead the Western Connecticut State University women's lacrosse team to an 11-5 season-opening win over visiting St. Joseph's College Saturday evening at the Westside Athletic Complex.

Also scoring for the Colonials were junior Nicole Perrone (Brookfield, CT) with three goals, followed by senior Jessica Bouwman (New Milford, CT), sophomore Hyla Costello (Southington, CT), and junior Lindsay Gorman (Killingworth, CT) who each scored once.  Senior Brianna Mitterando (Mastic Beach, NY) had a game-high four assists.

For St. Joseph's College, senior Jackie Myers (Coram, NY) scored twice, with freshman Lisa Terry (Manorville, NY), sophomore Karalyn Tetelman (Holbrook, NY), and senior Michelle Gulino (East Setauket, NY) scoring one goal each.

Mitterando fed Edwards twice in the opening minutes of the game to give Western an early 2-0 lead, before Gulino got St. Joseph's on the board with 13 minutes gone in the first half.  Gorman quickly pushed the lead back to two goals, but St. Joseph's converted a free-position opportunity three minutes later to once again narrow the gap.  Edwards converted another Mitterando pass into a goal two minutes before the half, but Western's defense surrendered an unassisted goal to Terry in the final minute, giving the Colonials a 4-3 lead at the break.

Western dominated play during the first ten minutes of the second half, scoring three unanswered goals, and taking a 7-3 lead.  After Myers scored for the Golden Eagles to stop the Western run, Edwards scored her fifth goal of the game and assisted on a Perrone goal to once again widen the Colonial lead.  Myers recorded the final tally for St. Joseph's and Perrone wrapped up the Western scoring for an 11-5 Colonial victory.

Sophomore goalkeeper Karli Portnoy (Sea Cliff, NY) made 14 saves for the Colonials to earn the team's first victory of the 2012 season, while Erin O'Connor (Nesconset, NY) recorded seven saves in a losing effort for St. Joseph's.

Recap by Western Connecticut Athletics Communications