Waltham, Mass. – Senior midfielder Mia Valletta (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna) scored a career-high five goals to lead the sixth-ranked Le Moyne College women's lacrosse team to a 15-6 win over Bentley on Sunday in the Northeast-10 Conference opener for both teams.
Le Moyne jumped out of the gates with 10 straight goals to open the game over the first 20:12. The Dolphins scored off the opening draw as sophomore Gabrielle Kamide (Deferiet, N.Y./Carthage) controlled the draw, fed senior Rebekah Elmer (Syracuse, N.Y./West Genesee) and finished off the return pass just six seconds in.
After six minutes and 20 seconds of scoreless action, the Dolphins added a pair of free-position goals just over one minute apart. Senior Nerissa Barzee (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) scored the first, while Valletta added the second at the 22:18 mark.
Valletta added her second tally of the game three minutes later. Junior Brittany Brigandi (Syracuse, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy/UMass) extended Le Moyne's lead to five with 18:16 left off a pass from sophomore Brenna Bauer (Rochester, N.Y./Brighton). Elmer picked up her fourth goal of the year with 13:45 to go off the rebound of a free-position shot that was saved by Bentley goalkeeper Kate Poznick. Senior defender Katlin Walker (Penn Yan, N.Y./Penn Yan Academy) followed at the 12:02 mark with an unassisted tally. Just 38 seconds later, Valletta found the back of the net off another free-position shot. Bauer had a hand in the game's next two goals as she scored off a free-position shot with 10:02 left and fed redshirt freshman Jennifer Fabian (Clay, N.Y./C.W. Baker) for her first career goal 14 seconds later.
The Falcons broke through with the final two goals of the half to go into the intermission trailing 10-2. Alex Carney got her team on the board at the 7:41 mark with an unassisted goal, while Chelsea Larivee scored unassisted with 1:47 left in the half. Bentley had a pair of shots on goal in the final 31 seconds, but junior goalkeeper Kelly Fucillo (Camillus, N.Y./West Genesee) turned away both attempts.
The Dolphins extended their lead back to double-digits with a pair of goals over the opening 9:43 of the second half. Valletta scored for the fourth time with an unassisted goal with 24:01 left and senior Leah Lazarz (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool) finished off a pass from Walker for a 12-2 advantage with 20:17 to go.
Bentley answered back with a pair of goals in a span of 1:31. Megan Wiggins scored the first off a free-position shot with 18:03 remaining and added the second off a pass from Gillian Paradis.
After the teams traded goals, the Dolphins scored consecutive goals to take a double-figure lead again. Lazarz answered the back-to-back goals by Wiggins by converting a feed from sophomore Kelly Condon (Victor, N.Y./Canandaigua) with 15:59 left. Cori Geiger got her team's deficit back to eight (13-5) by scoring off a feed from Wiggins. With just under nine minutes left, Valletta completed her scoring by finding the back of the net off a free-position shot. Brigandi capped Le Moyne's scoring on the day with 7:54 left by converting a pass from Bauer. Kelsie Tidman delivered the final margin by scoring with 36 seconds left for the Falcons.
Fucillo made 11 saves in the contest, including eight in the opening 30 minutes of action. Poznick turned away three shots over the first 16:15, while Julia Powell made eight saves over the final 43:45 between the pipes.
Le Moyne (2-0, NE-10 1-0), which scored double-digit goals in its opening two games for the first time since 1999, returns to action at Lees-McRae on Thursday at 2:00 p.m.
