Heather Norris
LIU Post’s women’s lacrosse team showed why it deserves its position as third in the nation by defeating the number six ranked Lock Haven Lady Eagles 11-8 March 24th in a come-from-behind victory in Lock Haven, PA. Junior goalkeeper Dominique Mosca led the Pioneer defense with 13 saves on the day, while the Post offense maintained a strong presence with balanced scoring from seven different players.
The non-conference win brought the Pioneers’ record to a perfect 4-0 overall while dropping the Lady Eagles to 2-4.
Lock Haven opened the scoring, capitalizing on three goals from Elyse Fisher to take the lead 4-1. The Pioneers quickly answered, though, with goals from sophomore attacker Jackie Sileo, sophomore midfielder Samantha Losco, and sophomore midfielder Kathleen Rotan to tie the game up with less than seven minutes left in the first half of play.
Fisher came through for the Lady Eagles again three minutes later, scoring her fourth goal of the day to pull Lock Haven ahead 5-4. But by the end of the half, another Lock Haven goal and two more Post goals resulted in a 6-6 tie at halftime.
The Pioneers looked in-control beginning the second half. Three straight goals, from junior Ashley Olen, senior Nan Mayott, and junior Abbie Ross, gave the team a 9-6 lead with 22:52 left to play. The next 10 minutes of play saw two more Lady Eagle goals interspersed with two Pioneer goals, but the women from Lock Haven didn’t have enough to overcome the solid defense of the Pioneers as the minutes counted down. Both teams were held scoreless in the final 10 minutes, as the two defenses battled it out until the whistle blew and the Pioneers walked away with the 11-8 win.
With 24 shots apiece for both teams, goalkeeping was the deciding factor of the match, as Mosca’s 13 saves were nearly twice as many as Lock Haven goalie Heather Sacko’s seven.
The Pioneers, who prior to Saturday’s game had dominated teams by 11, 20, and 15 goals, will take the field again on Wednesday, March 28th, when they travel to New Haven, Connecticut to face the University of New Haven. As of March 19th polls, LIU Post women’s lacrosse trailed only Le Moyne College and Adelphi University in national rankings.
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