New Britain, Conn. – Senior midfielder Reilly Geer (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill) tied her career high with six points to lead the Le Moyne College women's lacrosse team to a 17-5 victory over Central Connecticut State University on Wednesday afternoon in Northeast Conference action at Arute Field.

"I'm really proud of our full-team effort today," said head coach Liz Beville. "We made stops in the defensive end and executed on the offensive end. It always feels good to bring a win home."

With the victory and a Merrimack loss, the Dolphins clinch a berth in the NEC Tournament later this month. The Dolphins can clinch a top-four seed and a home game in the first round with a win in their home finale on Saturday against Wagner (12:00 p.m.).

The teams traded goals over the opening 11 minutes of the game. Senior midfielder Rhonee Shea Pal (Canastota, N.Y./Bishop Grimes) started the scoring just 52 seconds into the contest by converting a free-position shot for her 19th goal of the season. Lauren Valluzzi evened the score for the first time just 80 seconds later with a free-position goal of her own. Junior attacker Reagan McQuade (Endwell, N.Y./Maine-Endwell) put the Dolphins back in front with 7:46 remaining in the first quarter with her sixth tally of the year. Valluzzi tied the score once again with 4:09 left.

Senior attacker Sarah Hutchings (Marcellus, N.Y./Marcellus) gave the Dolphins the lead for good by finding the back of the net off a pass from Geer with 41 seconds remaining.

Le Moyne tallied the first two goals of the second quarter. Junior attacker Grace Detor (Syracuse, N.Y./West Genesee) tallied her 14th goal of the season with 11:19 left off a dish from Hutchings, who became the 21st player in the program's history with 150 career points. Detor recorded an unassisted goal just over two minutes later.

Valluzzi scored her third goal of the game 34 seconds later to pull the Blue Devils within two with 8:31 remaining.

The Dolphins answered with two goals in 22 seconds to take their first four-goal lead of the game. Hutchings registered her 23rd goal of the season 21 seconds after Valluzzi scored and McQuade followed 22 seconds later after collecting a pass from Geer.

Talie Richardson completed her team's scoring in the first half with 7:05 left off a free-position shot to make it 7-4.

Sophomore midfielder Jane Austenfeld (Lisle, N.Y./Whitney Point) finished off the scoring in the half with 4:50 to go on an extra-player free-position goal, her third marker of the season.

Le Moyne scored all five of the third quarter's goals to take a 13-4 advantage. Just over one minute into the period, Geer netted her 11th goal of the year after collecting a feed from Hutchings. Following over five and one-half minutes of scoreless play, freshman midfielder Maddi Barney (Lorraine, N.Y./South Jefferson) recorded her sixth goal of the season after taking a pass from Hutchings, who passed Kelly Condon '13 for 20th on the career points list with her 153rd and passed current assistant coach Adrianna Nojaim '22 M '23 for 17th on the career assists list with her 46th. Just 55 seconds later, Pal posted her 20th goal of the campaign with 7:14 remaining. Pal scored again with 5:33 left for a 12-4 lead. Geer tallied the final goal of the quarter with 4:13 remaining after receiving a dish from Hutchings.

The Dolphins extended their run to eight straight goals with the first two of the fourth quarter. Barney gave Le Moyne a double-digit lead with 12:50 to play off a feed from Geer, who then scored almost three minutes later off a pass from McQuade for a 15-4 advantage.

Valluzzi snapped CCSU's scoring drought of 29:48 by netting her fourth goal of the game with 7:17 to play.

Le Moyne completed the game's scoring with the final two goals. Freshman attacker Emily Noel (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) recorded her second goal of the season with 6:00 to go after taking a pass from senior attacker Jade Dillenbeck (Tully, N.Y./Tully). Freshman midfielder Julia Blakeslee (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca) wrapped up the scoring with 23 seconds left off a free-position shot for her fourth tally of the year.

Fifth year goalkeeper Paige Crandall (Adams, N.Y./South Jefferson) registered four saves (against four goals) over 48:00 to earn the victory between the pipes. Senior defender Lilly Locastro (Marcellus, N.Y./Marcellus) continued her strong defensive play with six ground balls and five caused turnovers. With her third caused turnover of the contest, she passed Savannah Fish '23 for the fourth-most career caused turnovers in the program's history with her 86th. Her 35 caused turnovers on the year are the eighth-most in a season in the program's history, while her 2.69 per game are the most by over 0.5 per game. Kya Risher took the loss for the Blue Devils despite making 15 saves (against 15 goals).