Upstart Eagles Shock FDU in Home Opener, 14-6

Patchogue, N.Y. - The St. Joseph's College (1-1) women's lacrosse team surprised the defending Freedom Conference Champion Fairleigh Dickinson University Devils (0-1) with a 14-6 upset victory that included goals from ten different Golden Eagles. What made the win even more enjoyable for St. Joseph's was the fact that they had lost one year ago to FDU by a 14-4 score.  The huge turnaround for the Golden Eagles is encouraging as the players have worked hard to keep improving, and their hard work paid off with an impressive win.

St. Joseph's got on the board early as first-year sophomore Gina Guardino put in a free position shot at 27:27. Less than two minutes later, sophomore Nicole Lyman stripped the ball from an FDU player and freshman Jess Cordano got the ground ball, raced downfield and hit sophomore Caitlynn Webber with a perfect pass who then delivered the ball to a cutting freshman, Heather Ferchland,, who drilled a shot into the corner of the net.  Junior Cait Halloran followed up with her own free position goal at 22:59, and the Golden Eagles had an early 3-0 lead.

Webber controlled the ensuing draw and after passing the ball around, grad student Jackie Myers fed a Ferchland for her second goal of the season just 47 seconds after the last goal. Two minutes later, St. Joseph's had a sideline clear, starting with junior Karalyn Tetelman.  A string of six passes produced the next goal - Tetelman to Lyman to a streaking freshman, Kristine Minogue, who pushed it up-field and found Ferchland, hitting Guardino with a pass, and then got it to Webber who delivered a strike to Myers who finally put the ball in the back of the cage for a 5-0 lead ten minutes into the game.  Tetelman followed up at 16:11 by driving through the middle and putting in a bounce shot to give St. Joseph's their sixth unanswered goal.

FDU bounced back as Katie Rolwood scored the first of her five goals by beating three defenders on a nice drive to the net at 9:06.  Jess Cordano's free position goal at 3:27 ended the first half scoring with a 7-1 home team advantage at halftime.

Four minutes into the second half, Webber pressured the FDU goalie into a bad pass that was intercepted by freshman Danielle Dittmeier who walked in one-on-one with the goalie and scored.  Rolwood, attempting to bring FDU back into the game all by herself, scored her second goal to make it 8-2.  Less than a minute later, another St. Joseph's College freshman, Lisa Olen, scored off of a free position goal.

At 20:41, St. Joseph's had a free clear at midfield and Olen drove the length of the field, dishing off to a cutting Webber in front of the cage for a beautiful transition goal. Then with 18:05 left in the game, Webber took it from behind the goal and spotted Ferchland in front for an 11-2 lead.

Rolwood came back with her third goal of the game at 16:07 and when Ashley Schlindwein scored off a feed from Rolwood, FDU had their first back-to-back goals of the game, cutting the lead to 11-4.

Danielle Dittmeier answered right back for the Eagles with a free position goal, then Rolwood scored her fourth goal of the day to make it 12-5.  After Lisa Olen scored her second goal from Tetelman's assist, Rolwood scored her fifth and final goal of the game.

SJC sophomore Lisa Terry drove the cage from behind, ending the scoring for the day with a goal at 6:51 to make the final score 14-6.

Senior Erin O'Connor finished a brilliant day with 13 saves, allowing just six goals. Grace Warburton had 16 saves in a losing effort for F.D.U.  Cait Webber led the Golden Eagles with six draw controls, while Nicole Lyman added five of her own as SJC led the draw battle 15-7. 

Heather Ferchland led St. Joseph's with three goals, while Olen (2g, 1a) and  Webber (1g, 2a) each had three pts. also. Dittmeier added two goals, while Myers and Tetelman each had a goal and an assist. Guardino, Cordano, Halloran and Terry each scored single goals to put ten Eagles in the scoring column. Katie Rolwood of FDU led all scorers with five goals and an assist, with Schlindein adding the other goal.

St. Joseph's next game is at home next Sunday at 3 p.m. against Wesley College.  Last year, Wesley won the match-up 8-7 in Delaware.  FDU goes against Ramapo College on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. in Mahwah, N.J.