Easton, Mass. – Lizzie Lane scored a pair of goals in the first 92 seconds of the second half to break a halftime tie as Stonehill College upset the fourth-ranked Le Moyne College women's lacrosse team, 7-6, on Saturday afternoon in Northeast-10 Conference action at Timothy J. Coughlin Memorial Field at W.B. Mason Stadium this afternoon.
The teams split the game's first two goals over the opening five minutes. Senior attacker Kathleen Conese (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool) started the scoring by converting a free-position shot 2:24 into the contest. Mikayla Couch answered back with an unassisted goal at the 25:05 mark to tie the score for the first time.
Le Moyne tallied the next three goals over a span of 12 and one-half minutes. Junior attacker Julia Suriani (Buffalo, N.Y./West Seneca East) gave the lead back to the Dolphins with 21:20 remaining in the half after taking a pass from graduate student attacker Marley Ciferri (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca/Syracuse). Following almost 12 minutes of scoreless action, junior attacker Catie McKay (Penfield, N.Y./Our Lady of Mercy) tallied her 11th goal of the season off a feed from freshman midfielder Molly McGuane (Marcellus, N.Y./Marcellus). Just 43 seconds later, freshman midfielder Amari Pollard (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) gave the Dolphins a 4-1 lead by finding the back of the net on a free-position shot for her 13th goal of the season.
Following 17:48 without a goal, Stonehill scored three times over the final 7:17 to even the score at four. Brooke Rudden started the streak by coming from behind the goal and recording an unassisted goal with 7:17 left in the half. Couch pulled her team within a goal by converting a free-position shot with 5:43 remaining. After a Le Moyne turnover with just over one minute left in the half, Caitlin Sweeney scored from the front edge of the crease after taking a feed from behind the cage from Mary Lee Mahoney with 24 seconds remaining to even the score.
The Dolphins, who tallied their fewest goals in a Northeast-10 Conference contest (42 games), had a free-position shot with seven seconds left in the stanza, but it was sent wide right of the net, sending the teams into the intermission tied at four.
Lane gave the Skyhawks the lead by converting a free-position shot for her eighth goal of the season just 59 seconds into the second half. She tallied another free-position goal only 33 seconds later.
Following 10 minutes and 20 seconds of scoreless play, Kelsey Shannahan pushed Stonehill's lead to three by registering a free-position goal in an extra-man opportunity.
After being held scoreless for 35:37, the Dolphins took advantage of a Stonehill foul to trim their deficit to two as Conese netted a free-position goal with 3:13 remaining in the game.
Stonehill won the ensuing draw control, but Conese was able to cause a turnover and senior midfielder Victoria Nies (Syracuse, N.Y./Jamesville-DeWitt) scooped up the loose ball. Nies then pulled the Dolphins within 7-6 by netting an unassisted goal from the left side with 2:19 left in the game.
Nies then won the ensuing draw and the Dolphins called timeout with 2:03 to go. Junior midfielder Laura Hoffman (Canandaigua, N.Y./Canandaigua) drew a foul and was awarded a free-position attempt with 1:02 remaining, but her shot was stopped by Stonehill goalkeeper Ashley Armstrong.
The Skyhawks turned the ball over on their clear attempt to give the Dolphins one final chance to knot the score at seven. After junior defender Nora Stambaugh (Honeoye Falls, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima) picked up the loose ball, Conese had a shot from close range, but Armstrong made the save on the deflected shot.
Freshman goalkeeper Christina Humbert (Webster, N.Y./Webster Thomas) registered a season high-tying 11 saves in the setback, including seven in the first half. Armstrong recorded 10 saves in the win for the Skyhawks.
Le Moyne (7-3, 4-2 NE-10), which lost for the first time in the program's 21-year history when allowing seven goals or fewer (105-0 previously), looks to snap its two-game losing streak on Tuesday against Assumption College at 12:00 p.m.
