Women’s Lacrosse Notches First Round Victory in 2015 NCAA Tournament

Hartford, Conn. – The St. Joseph's College (14-4) women's lacrosse team won their first-ever NCAA Division III Championship Tournament game as they defeated Keene State (7-12), 13-9, on the campus of Trinity College.  The Skyline Champion Golden Eagles now advance to play host Trinity (17-1) tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. 

SJC got off to a tremendous start as they opened the game on a 5-0 run over the first 12 minutes of the game, before the Keene Owls could even get up off the mat.   Early tallies by junior captain Heather Ferchland (Selden, N.Y./Centereach) at 26:42 and senior captain Caitlynn Webber (Eastport, N.Y./Eastport-South Manor) at 23:36, took the Eagles flying high.  Those two then combined for the next four goals.  Ferchland got the third and fourth goals on free position shots less than fifty seconds apart from each other and then Webber was assisted by senior Graceann Fallon (Kings Park, N.Y./Kings Park) for the fifth SJC score at 19:53.

Keene scored their first goal at 18:04 to cut their deficit to 5-1, but Webber (assisted by Ferchland) and freshman Kristin Carroll (Patchogue, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) went back-to-back at 13:38 and 13:00 to increase the lopsided effort to 7-1.  The Owls added a tally with 11:15 left in the half, but both teams were held quiet the rest of the first stanza.

St. Joseph's outshot Keene 15-12 in the first half and sophomore goalkeeper Courtney Wickline (Medford, N.Y/Bellport) made eight saves.

In the second half it was quite a different story as Keene captured the momentum going on a 4-0 run to cut the lead to a nail-biting 7-6.   Senior Ela Igdeler (Islip, N.Y./Islip) catapulted the Golden Eagles back to a two-goal cushion on a free position shot at 16:24 and Webber added her own free position at 15:51 to make it 9-6. 

Keene would cut it again to 9-7 at 14:04, but St. Joseph's put together a three-goal stint by Fallon, assisted by junior Jessica Cordano (Oakdale, N.Y./Connetquot), and two by Igdeler to bring the game to 12-7.  The Owls got one back after that but Carroll scored the final goal for SJC to bring it to 13-8.  Keene got one last goal, but time ran out as the Golden Eagles held off any chance of a late Owl run.

Senior captain Nicole Lyman (West Babylon, N.Y./West Babylon) caused a game-high five turnovers, had five draw controls and four groundballs.  Junior Nicole Danisi (Sound Beach, N.Y./Rocky Point) also scooped four ground balls.  Igdeler controlled five draws.

Webber led the squad with a game-high four goals, Ferchland and Igdeler each had three, and Carroll chipped in with two.

Wickline (14-4) earned the win with an outstanding 14 saves.  SJC outshot Keene for the game 31-27.

The women's lacrosse team is only the second program in the history of St. Joseph's athletics to win an NCAA Tournament game - the other being the women's softball team in 2006 and 2008.

SJC faces a tough task tomorrow against Trinity, the NESCAC champions, as the Bantams are currently ranked number one in the nation.  Last season, Trinity reached the national championship game, but lost to Salisbury.  All live stats and video links will be available at sjcgoldeneagles.com starting at 1:00 p.m.