Golden Eagles Fall To Trinity in NCAA Second Round to Conclude Successful 2015 Season

Hartford, Conn. – The St. Joseph's Golden Eagles (14-5) faced a tall task against the top-ranked team in the nation in Trinity College (18-1) as the two squads squared off in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Championship, but they still fought proudly and valiantly against all odds falling in defeat, 16-6.   In their maiden voyage to the NCAA's, the Golden Eagles come home with their first-ever tournament win under their belts yesterday against Keene State, and a hunger to return to the national stage in the near future.

For the Golden Eagles the 2015 season was wildly successful as they captured their first Skyline Conference crown against Farmingdale State in the league's championship game, following their first defeat of the Rams during the regular season.  In only their fourth year of existence as a program, head coach Bob Vlahakis was able to quickly build a Skyline powerhouse from scratch, a remarkable accomplishment. 

SJC's own version of the "Core Four" featuring captains Caitlynn Webber (Eastport, N.Y./Eastport-South Manor) and Nicole Lyman (West Babylon, N.Y./West Babylon) along with Graceann Fallon (Kings Park, N.Y./Kings Park) and Amanda D'Onofrio (Centereach, N.Y./Centereach), had started with the team as freshman and were key contributors throughout their entire career and existence of the program.  Also, finishing their run with the team are seniors Ela Igdeler (Islip, N.Y./Islip) and Kacie Mitterando (Mastic Beahc, N.Y./William Floyd), both with two seasons as Golden Eagles.

The Trinity Bantams fired off five goals to start the contest in the first three-plus minutes of the game to prove right out of the gate that it was going to be an uphill climb for the Golden Eagles.  St. Joseph's Caitlynn Webber showed that the visitors would not roll over however, as she got a tally at 23:33 off an assist from fellow senior Ela Igdeler.  Keeping the game going in their direction, Trinity struck back with three unanswered to put the scoreboard at 8-1.  Freshman Kristin Carroll (Patchogue, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) scored the Golden Eagles second goal at 7:39 on a free position shot to make it 8-2, but Trinity closed out the half with three more tallies to take a 11-2 lead into halftime.

In the second half, the momentum stayed on the side of the Bantams as they rattled off two more goals in the first five minutes.  Junior captain Heather Ferchland (Selden. N.Y./Centereach) scored at 21:41 to cut the lead to 13-3 but Trinity scored two minutes later.  SJC and Trinity from that point traded goal-for-goal for the rest of the game as they alternated scores.  Finding the back of the net for St. Joseph's was Carroll, Igdeler and Fallon.

Sophomore goalkeeper Courtney Wickline (Medford, N.Y./Bellport) saved six of the 22 Trinity shots she faced, dropping her record to 14-5.  Trinity outshot SJC for the game, 26-20, but the Golden Eagles held a 12-8 edge in the second half. The Bantams controlled the draw circle taking 17 to the Eagles seven and had one more turnover than SJC, 16-15. 

For SJC, Carroll concluded her outstanding freshman season by leading the team with two goals, an assist, three ground balls and three caused turnovers.  Defender Nicole Lyman had two caused turnovers, two draw controls and one groundball.  Igdeler had a goal, an assist, three groundballs, two caused turnovers and one draw control.  Webber and Ferchland were held to one goal and two draw controls each.