ERIE, Pa. - A unique season brings about unique challenges especially with scheduling and when you have only a limited amount of time to play non-conference competition you take the games anyway you can get them. That is exactly what the 22nd-ranked Mercyhurst women's lacrosse program did on Sunday afternoon taking on both Walsh University and D'Youville College at Saxon Stadium in the home opener. The Lakers were able to give run to a lot of players in their 17-10 and 18-7 victories.
Game One - LAKERS 17, Walsh 10
Mercyhurst fell behind early 1-0 on a goal from Hannah McFeeters 2:22 in, but
Gabby McGinn,
Gina Perna and
Molly Meegan responded with three straight past Kathleen Mendenhall in a 1:13 span to grab a 3-1 edge. A tally by Kaytlyn Tokar halted the Lakers momentum for a second before
Marissa Comerate took a feed from
Julia Ruscio and cashed in to make it 4-2. Ruscio would then pick up her first of the afternoon, followed by McGinn pushing the margin to 6-2 with half of the opening period still to go. Ruscio increased the hosts advantage to 9-3 with two more markers with under five minutes left in the first half.
Walsh got a quick goal from McFeeters right out of the break, however
Payton Cook answered back with her first of the day followed by Ruscio's fourth extending the gap to 12-4. The Cavaliers buried the ensuing four goals to cut the deficit down to just 12-8, with 12-minutes gone. Mercyhurst clamped down defensively over the next six minutes and found their offensive touch again as well as McGinn bagged one as well as set up
Julia Rescott,
Nina Stephens and Cook to make it 16-8. Ruscio added one more to her total to close out the Mercyhurst scoring.
Team Stat Pack
Shot Attempts - Hurst, 34 / Walsh, 31
Shots on Goal - Hurst, 29 / Walsh, 21
Clears - Hurst, 16-18 / Walsh, 22-25
Draw Controls - Hurst, 13 / Walsh, 16
Ground Balls - Hurst, 19 / Walsh, 16
Turnovers - Hurst, 17 / Walsh, 15
Mercyhurst Individual Stats
Points – McGinn (7), Ruscio (6), Cook, Gottorff and Perna (2)
Goals – Ruscio (5), McGinn (3), Cook and Gottorff (2)
Assists – McGinn (4), Perna and Ruscio (1)
Draw Controls – Cocina (6), Cook (5)
Saves - Lippert (11)
Walsh Individual Stats
Goals – McFeeters (5), Hindman and Tokar (2)
Draw Controls – Hindman and Tatlow (4)
Saves - Mendenhall (12)
Game Two - LAKERS 18, D'Youville 7
The two teams exchanged goals in the opening 3:59 as Rescott hit the net for the Lakers, before Riley Riedel answered back. The pair of Rescott and McGinn continued to stoke the Mercyhurst fire as they accounted for three straight markers to make it 4-1 less than 10-minutes in. Over the next seven minutes the home side saw three different players get on the scoresheet as
Rachel Hirst,
Grace Gajan and
Sarah Kaska all buried their first of the day pushing the advantage to 7-3 with 12:26 to play. Tiff Cristofanelli brought the Saints within 7-4 as she slipped a shot past
Raelyn Tiberio, but then it was all Hurst as
Lauren Cain,
Sara Simms, Cook and Stephens ended the half with five straight to lead 12-4 through 30-minutes.
Mercyhurst picked up right where they left off to being half number two as Simms notched a pair and Ruscio added another one to her ledger upping the advantage to 15-4 at the 6:06 mark. D'Youville got two more from Cristofanelli to pull within 15-6.
Megan Fitzpatrick set up
Torie Sullivan for goal number 16 and
Kiera Boettcher made it 17-6 for the Green and Blue.
Christina Judy finished off the scoring by sending a shot beyond the reach of Hannah Wilson for the 18-7 final.
Team Stat Pack
Shot Attempts - Hurst, 41 / DYC, 20
Shots on Goal - Hurst, 29 / DYC, 15
Clears - Hurst, 10-13 / DYC, 9-21
Draw Controls - Hurst, 18 / DYC, 9
Ground Balls - Hurst, 30 / DYC, 18
Turnovers - Hurst, 18 / DYC, 23
Mercyhurst Individual Stats
Points - McGinn (4), Rescott and Simms (3)
Goals – Rescott (3), Cain, Gajan and Simms (2)
Assists - McGinn (3), Fitzpatrick (2)
Draw Controls – Stephens and Sullivan (4), Gajan (3), Boettcher and Cain (2)
Saves - Tiberio (8)
DYC Individual Stats
Goals – Cristofanelli (3), Riedel (2)
Draw Controls – Lucania and Riedel (3)
Saves - Wilson (11)
On Deck
Mercyhurst will next take the field on Wednesday afternoon when they continue PSAC West play with a trip down I-79 to battle Slippery Rock at 4pm.
