Easton, Mass. – Meaghan Fealy converted a free-position shot with 28 seconds left to give Stonehill College a 9-8 victory over the Le Moyne College women's lacrosse team on Saturday afternoon in Northeast Conference action at W. B. Mason Stadium.

Stonehill opened the game's scoring with a pair of goals in the first 3:08. Val Beigel got the Skyhawks on the scoreboard at the 12:50 mark and Natalie Coutu followed 58 seconds later.

Sophomore midfielder Maddi Barney (Lorraine, N.Y./South Jefferson) scored the next two goals to knot the score at two apiece. She got the Dolphins on the scoreboard at the 8:26 mark after taking a pass in an extra-player situation from junior attacker Bella Sampo (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill). Following six and one-half minutes of scoreless play, she recorded an unassisted tally.

After 11 and one-half minutes of scoreless action to start the second quarter, Barney put the Dolphins in front for the first time by finishing off another feed from Sampo.

The Skyhawks took advantage of a yellow card on the Dolphins to even the score at three one minute later as Sofia D'Agostino scored off a pass from Coutu.

The teams alternated goals in the third quarter as they doubled the game's scoring. Coutu put the Skyhawks in front with 11:49 left off a free-position shot. Freshman attacker Mackenzie Prentice (Clay, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) converted a free-position shot of her own 50 seconds later to tie the score again. Sophomore midfielder Julia Blakeslee (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca) gave the lead back to Le Moyne with 6:12 left off a feed from junior attacker Alexa Strelick (Webster, N.Y./Webster Thomas). Coutu tallied an unassisted marker with 4:50 remaining to even the score at five. Freshman attacker Emily Markovina (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) put the Dolphins back in front with 3:37 to go in the period after collecting a pass from Sampo in an extra-player situation. Julia Kogan knotted the score again with 1:09 left.


The back-and-forth scoring continued in the fourth quarter. Junior midfielder Sara Hunter (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) gave Le Moyne its last lead by finding the back of the net with 13:02 to play off another feed from Sampo. D'Agostino tied the score only 47 seconds later off a pass from Coutu. After 10 minutes of scoreless play, Fealy scored off a free-position shot to give Stonehill an 8-7 advantage with 2:13 left. Senior attacker Grace Detor (Syracuse, N.Y./West Genesee) tied the score for the seventh time with 1:21 to play.

The Skyhawks won the ensuing draw and called timeout. After the Skyhawks worked the ball around for about 30 seconds, Fealy drew a foul on the left side with 31 seconds left. She converted the ensuing free-position shot to put her team in front again.

Stonehill won the following draw and were able to run enough time off the clock before committing a turnover.

Sophomore goalkeeper Amanda Manfredi (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) recorded six saves in the setback. Nina Tremonte tallied seven saves to earn the victory.


Le Moyne (4-12, 3-5 NEC) closes out the regular season next Saturday at home against Saint Francis at 11:00 a.m. The teams, along with FDU, are playing for the fourth and final seed in the NEC Championship.

If Saint Francis wins, regardless of how FDU finishes, the Red Flash will be the fourth seed.
If Le Moyne wins and FDU loses tonight or next Saturday to Central Connecticut State, the Dolphins will be the fourth seed.

If Le Moyne wins and FDU wins tonight and next Saturday, the Dolphins, Red Flash and Knights will finish in a three-way tie at 4-5. Since the teams all went 1-1 against each other, lost to the top four teams and defeated the bottom three teams, the tie will be broken by the fewest goals allowed against each other. For the Dolphins to claim the fourth seed with this tiebreaker, they need to allow six or fewer goals to the Red Flash and win by at least two.

If the final score ends 9-7 in favor of the Dolphins, the three teams will have each allowed 20 goals and the teams would go to the next tiebreaker, which is fewest goals allowed in conference game. In that scenario, Le Moyne would claim the fourth seed after only allowing 71 goals compared to 74 for Saint Francis. FDU has allowed 83 goals with two games to play.

If the teams finish in a three-way tie and Le Moyne wins by one while allowing less than seven goals, Saint Francis will be the fourth seed due to only allowing the least amount of goals.

If the teams finish in a three-way tie and Le Moyne wins 9-8, Saint Francis will be the fourth seed due to defeating FDU in the regular season.

If the teams finish in a three-way tie and Le Moyne allows at least eight goals and scores at least 10 goals, FDU will be the fourth seed due to only allowing 20 goals.