Lacrosse Gets First Win of the Season

Photo Credit/ Helen Bradley ESU's Lacrosse team scored 15-6 over Georgian Court last Saturday.

Helen Bradley 

Staff Writer 

The Lacrosse team claimed their first win of the season last Saturday as the Warriors took on Georgian Court, GCWU, at Whitenight Field.

Last year, the Warriors achieved a 15-6 record making it to both the PSAC and the NCAA Atlantic Regional Finals.

After losing both final games to Westchester, the women are sure to be seeking victory this season and got off to a good start, beating GCWU 15-7.

The team came out hard for their first game back, recording 38 shots with 28 being on goal.

Junior Shannon Dent got ESU on the scoreboard first, scoring three minutes into the first half.  

A minute later, both Juniors Krista Mitarotonda and Gianna Leduc also scored points. 

At the 24-minute mark, GCWU made an attempt to put themselves on the scoreboard but sent the ball slightly wide of the cage.

Again, they tried, but Senior Tatyana Petteway made a clean save to keep them scoreless.

It wasn’t until the 18-minute mark that ESU scored again and suddenly, the goals came flooding in. 

Both Shannon Dent and Gianna Leduc each put one away as Senior Julie Fitzsimmons added a goal to lift the Warriors to a 6-0 lead.

The Warriors showed that they had been working hard all pre-season as GCWU struggled to get the ball down to their offensive half.

When they finally did, ESU’s defense surrounded them with double and triple teams causing fast turn-overs.

However, GCUW finally managed to find the back of the net, scoring at the 8:22 mark.  

ESU responded though with three more goals.  

Despite being down, GCUW brought big energy and intensity to the game and rallied back to score two more goals before halftime.

GCUW began the second half scoring first, however, Krista Mitarotonda added another goal for ESU 30 seconds later.

While the girls dominated the second half and got shots off, they struggled to get the ball in the back of the net.

GCUW kept fighting back, earning four free-position shot while ESU only earnt two.

The Warriors finally got back on the scoreboard with 20:30 remaining.

At 15:26, Gianna Leduc totaled her third goal of the game, pushing ESU to a 12-6 lead.

Less than 30 seconds later, Sophomore Madison Bagatta contributed to the scoreboard after two GCUW girls fell down in front of her, leaving her with a straight shot on goal.

Senior Cassidy McKenna scored her second goal of the game at the 13:24 mark, giving ESU an eight-point lead.

The scoring went quiet for a while with GCUW intercepting and forcing turnovers consistently in the midfield, keeping ESU away from its offensive half.

With around two minutes remaining, the Warriors subbed some of their younger players in.

With 1:24 remaining, Junior Bailey McMaster tallied the last goal of the game, bringing the score to 15-7.

GCUW had one last push to minimize the point difference but Tatyana Petteway saved the shot.

The win begins their season on a positive note and sets them up for their two upcoming games this weekend in Florida.

Email Helen at: 

Hbradley2@live.esu.edu