WINTER PARK, Fla. (March 19, 2008)'- The
Rollins College women's lacrosse team held onto a 12-9 lead at the
half, but was unable to stifle a larger Saint Michael's squad in a
hard fought 18-17 loss on Wednesday afternoon.' The Tars drop to
3-7 in their final home game of the season, while the Purple
Knights advance to 2-1 overall.
Three Tars scored four goals apiece in the hottest game of their
season so far.' Freshman sharpshooter Liz Connelly led the team in
points scoring four goals and assisting on five, and had a game
high nine draw controls.' Junior Annie Harris and freshman Courtney
Bianculli each added four more, with Harris finding an assist on
one of Connelly's goals.
Freshman midfielder Katy Tyszko tallied two goals and one
assist, collecting four ground balls for the afternoon.' Harris and
freshman Katie Hubbell collected four ground balls apiece along
with Tyszko to help the Tars to a total of 24.' Heading up the Tars
in ground balls was Annie Decker with a season and career high
total of five.
Rounding-out the goal count for the Tars was a freshman trio of
Hubbell, Decker, and Lacy Goodwyn with one goal each.' Goodwyn
would find an assist on a Connelly goal late in the first half to
give her a two point total for the day, and scored the final
Rollins goal to pull them to within one point of Saint Michael's,
and keep the Tars in contention in the final minutes.
The Purple Knights were led by Amanda Pelley, Amanda Soule, and
Brynne Curran who tallied four goals and one assist apiece.' Behind
the trio was Kim Berlo with two goals and two assists, followed by
Kayla Sibilia with a total of two goals for the contest.' The Saint
Michael's squad would tally two more goals from Lila McCormack and
Noelle Guarnieri, with McCormack and Sara Biondello adding one
assist each.
It was a hot day for both teams as temperatures spiked at 86
degrees on the field.' After a tied score at 1-1 three minutes into
the game, the Tars pulled ahead to a 9-3 lead with a little over
seven minutes left in the first half, but the Purple Knights would
out-shoot the Tars 6-3 in the remainder of the half to walk into
the locker room with a deficit of only three points.
Rollins came out of the half time break firing on all pistons as
Annie Harris placed the ball in the back of the cage just 58
seconds into the second period to pull the Tars ahead 13-9.' Saint
Michael's answered back with two quick unassisted goals just nine
seconds apart to pull back to within two, and after a goal from
Rollins' Bianculli, the Purple Knights rattled off three goals to
tie up the game at 14-14 with 21:24 left in the half.
It was a back and forth game for the remainder of the period,
with Rollins pulling ahead by one with another goal from Harris.'
Saint Michael's equalized the score once more at 15-15, and with a
goal from Soule pulled ahead to take the lead for the first time
with 15:14 remaining on the clock.'
Rollins grabbed the next goal off of an Annie Decker free
position shot, tying up the game one final time at 16-16 with 14:36
left in the second half.' But Saint Michael's proved to have more
depth with plenty of players coming off of the bench, and would go
on to outshoot the Tars 2-1 in the remaining 14 minutes of the
contest.
The Tars will be on the road for the remainder of their 2008
inaugural season.' They will have over two weeks to prepare for
their final four games, and will be back in action on April 5 when
they travel to Belmont Abbey College to take on the Crusaders at
1:00 p.m.
