Lacrosse Opens Up New Facility With Big Win

Patchogue, N.Y.  -  Hosting their first-ever contest at the new St. Joseph's Outdoor Athletic Complex, the women's lacrosse team opened with a dazzling 17-9 win over Worcester State.  The Lady Eagles now stand at 5-5 overall and Worcester dropped to 0-3.  Freshman attacker Lisa Terry led the home team with six goals and three assists through the raindrops.

St. Joseph's quickly put its mark on the game as Caitlynn Webber controlled the opening draw and Nicole Lyman drove the length of the field to put in the first goal on their home turf at 29:42.  Jackie Myers then took a nice pass from Terry for the second goal at 27:59.  Karalyn Tetelman became the third different player to score (on a free position shot) and Myers followed up on an unassisted goal to give St. Joseph's a 4-0 lead.

Worcester's Amy Tucker opened their scoring (assisted by Daryl Powell) but the Eagles responded by scoring four more goals as Webber went back-to-back with two (assisted by Amanda D'Onofrio and Terry), then Terry and Tetelman scored unassisted goals to give SJC an 8-1 lead.  

The two teams alternated scoring on the last four goals of the half, first Worcester's Stacy Doherty (free position shot), followed by the Eagles' Terry assisted by Myers.  Rhetta Guimond came back for Worcester, assisted by Jackie Lawlor before Terry closed out the first half with a free position goal with three seconds remaining to give St. Joseph's a 10-3 lead.

SJC's Erin O'Connor recorded three saves while allowing three goals, and then gave way for teammate Colleen Fitzsimons to man the net for the second half.

In the second half, the Lancers' Vicki O'Brien scored first on a free position shot at 28:35, which was equaled by Terry's free position shot four minutes later. Terry then assisted on a nice cut by Tetelman to goal to put the Eagles up 12-4. Worcester's Michelle Tully scored an unassisted goal, and the Eagles came back with two more of their own as Grace Ann Fallon scored off a feed from Caitlin Halloran, and Terry scored on another free position shot to make it 14-5.

O'Brien scored again for Worcester and Webber answered right back for the home team with 11:41 remaining in the game. The Lancers then scored back-to-back goals for the first time in the game, but St. Joseph's answered with a pair of goals in under a minute.  Webber unassisted and Terry from Tetelman ended the scoring on the day for the Lady Eagles. Lawlor scored the final goal of the game for the visitors (assisted by Tully) with three seconds remaining.

For the Eagles, Fitzsimons had four saves in the second half, while Worcester's Alexandra Chisholm recorded 11 saves during the rainy morning. St. Joseph's won the draw battle, controlling 14 of 16 draws and outshot Worcester, 33-19.

Lyman led St. Joseph's with three draw controls, while Michelle Gulino, Gabby Bourguignon and Webber recorded two each.  D'Onofrio recorded three caused turnovers on the defensive end.  All 23 players on the roster contributed to the victory.

St. Joseph's has now won five out of six and next faces a tough Manhattanville squad on Friday night at 7 p.m. on their new home turf field.  The Lady Eagles were thankful to quickly establish a home field advantage in their first contest.