By Halle Frisco
Staff Writer
ESU women’s lacrosse team bested Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) rival Millersville 11-10 this past Friday in a nail biter game.
The Warriors improved their record to 3-1 and are currently undefeated against PSAC teams. The Warriors beat Seton Hill 16-4 to open PSAC play on Saturday, March 17 and went on to beat Edinboro 16-4 on Sunday, March 25.
The Warrior rallied from a four-goal deficit late in the second half of the game against Millersville to secure the win.
Senior captain and midfielder Chessie Rahmer led the team with five goals and one assist, including the final three of the game to push ESU past Millersville.
“This game is huge. It showed that we can come back from deficits to pull through.
Our big motto is to play from the heart, and games like today show we can do that. Millersville is always a huge rivalry, so It was a good, fun win today,” said Rahmer.
Junior midfielder Emma Rufolo, who is also a team captain, started ESU’s five-goal comeback with nine minutes remaining in the second half, scoring two goals back-to-back.
“When things get frantic during the game, those three girls [team captains] do a great job settling our team down and making us focus on handling high pressure situations like the one we did against Millersville,” said TJ Jefferis.
Other key contributors to ESU’s win were junior attacks TJ Jefferis who tallied one goal and one assist, Brooke Fritz who had four assists, sophomore midfielder Hana Cicerelle who had one goal and one assist, and freshman midfielder Krista Mitarotonda who scored two goals and had one assist.
“I’d have to say that this win just proves why I chose to be a warrior, we are unlike any other team in the PSAC. We pick each other up when things aren’t going our way and fight for what we work so hard for everyday at practice,” said senior captain midfielder Alicia Stratten.
The Millersville squad put up a tough fight against the young ESU team. Goalkeeper Shannon Davis made 19 saves for the Marauders.
Two ESU goalkeepers saw time in this match. Tatyana Petteway started in goal for the Warriors and played 50:51 minutes of the game, allowing ten goals and made 5 saves in the win.
Michelle Dyck relieved Petteway with only 9:09 left in the game and made two saves to seal the win.
The Warriors earned their first-ever PSAC championship title in 2017 and are looking to repeat that title in the 2018 season.
“I strongly believe we have the ability [to win PSACs], we need to continue to learn, adjust, and grow as a team and anything is possible,” said Coach Xeni Barakos.
Catch the lady Warriors in action against Slippery on March 31. The game will be held at Slipper Rock University.
Email Halle at:
hfrisco@live.esu.edu