Farmingdale State - 10, Western Connecticut - 7
Danbury, Conn. - The Western Connecticut State University women's lacrosse team held a 4-3 lead midway through the first half, but then struggled to score for the remainder of the game, falling 10-7 to Farmingdale State Wednesday evening at the Westside Athletic Complex.
For Farmingdale State, Christy Thoden (Bayport, NY) scored four goals, Nicole Marzocca (West Babylon, NY) scored two goals, and Krystin Shand (Massapequa Park, NY), Carly Schnieder (Merrick, NY), Jillian Pironti (Seaford, NY), and Jordyn Haseman (Farmindale, NY) each scored once.
Providing the offensive spark for the Colonials was junior Devon Edwards (Islip, NY) with three goals and two assists, to account for five of Western's seven goals. Junior Nicole Perrone (Brookfield, CT) added two goals and one assist, while single goals were scored by senior Samantha Blackwell (Brewster, NY) and junior Lindsay Gorman (Killingworth, CT).
After Thoden got Farmingdale State on the board in the game's fourth minute on a pass from Shand, Perrone evened the score at 1-1 two minutes later when she took a pass from senior Kaitlyn Arconti (Danbury, CT) and rifled a shot past the Farmingdale keeper. Thoden and Perrone traded goals again with about 23 minutes remaining in the half, and a minute later Thoden converted another pass from Shand to put the Rams ahead 3-2. After Blackwell converted a free-position for her first goal of the season, Edwards and Perrone teamed up to give Western its first lead, 4-3, with just over 15 minutes remaining in the half. Both teams went scoreless over the next 12 minutes, but then a flurry of goals in the final three minutes (three by Farmingdale, one by Edwards) gave the visitors a 6-5 lead at intermission.
Defense and goal tending dominated play over the first 20 minutes of the second half, with the only goal coming on an unassisted strike from Farmingdale's Pironti in the second minute of play. Another unassisted marker by Edwards narrowed the margin to 7-6 with just over 10 minutes to play in the half, but a pair of Farmingdale goals five minutes later pushed the Rams' advantage to 9-6. Gorman's goal with 2:49 remaining to play gave Western hope, but Farmingdale controlled the ball in the Western end to close out the game before Marzocca scored a meaningless goal with eight seconds remaining for a 10-7 final.
Sophomore goalkeeper Karli Portnoy (Sea Cliff, NY) made 12 saves for the Colonials but suffered her first loss of the season, while Courtney Cook (Deer Park, NY) recorded five saves to earn the win for Farmingdale State.
The Rams will now host New Paltz State on Saturday, March 17th at 1:00 p.m.
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