Women's Lacrosse Falls in Season Opener

Madison, NJ| The St. Joseph's College women's lacrosse team dropped its season-opener 17-7 to FDU-Florham on Saturday afternoon.

The Golden Eagles open the season at 0-1 at the Devils even out at 1-1.

Freshman Amanda Gennardo recorded two goals on two shots with five draw controls and a pair of groundballs and caused turnovers. Freshman Melissa Newman pitched in with two goals with junior Tori Staker and freshman Makayla Byrne adding a goal apiece.

Staker also added two assists and a game-best 10 draw controls.

Emma Ciquera paced the Devils with four goals. Kylee Garcia and Nina Shirley pitched in with three goals each. Hannah Bhend and Allyha Elk recorded a game-high four groundballs and combined for three caused turnovers.

FDU led wire-to-wire netting the first goal of the afternoon in the first minute of play. Later in the first half, the Devils increased its lead to four, 6-2, before back-to-back goals from Newman and Staker inched the Golden Eagles to within two, 6-4, with less than 13 minutes on the clock. FDU's Garcia scored to push the lead up to 7-4, but three unanswered SJC goals evened the score at 7 with just under eight minutes left in the half. The Devils went on to close the frame on a 4-0 run to take an 11-7 lead into the break.

FDU went on to tack on six more goals in the second half while shutting out the Golden Eagles to cruise to a 10-point victory.

SJC keepers Olivia Vetter and Julianna Hernandez recorded four saves apiece with FDU's Maddy Apap finishing with eight.

The Golden Eagles return to action on Wednesday, March 4 when they travel to face SUNY New Paltz at 4:00 pm.