#1 Farmingdale State - 16, #2 St. Joseph's-LI - 5
Farmingdale, N.Y. - Farmingdale State captured the Skyline Conference Women's Lacrosse Championship this afternoon with a 16-5 victory over #2 St. Joseph's-LI. The top-seeded Rams improved to 17-1 and claimed the conference's automatic bid to the upcoming 2017 NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Championship.
Tied 1-1 with 26:19 left in the first half, FSC took a 2-1 advantage after freshman midfielder Victoria Varone (Commack, N.Y.) netted the pass from senior attack Janisha Sanchez (Brentwood, N.Y.). Farmingdale State went ahead by two, 5:27 later, on a Sanchez goal off senior midfielder Brittany Rosino's (North Babylon, N.Y.) pass.
With 19:22 on the clock, an unassisted goal by freshman midfielder Courtney Gendels (Wantagh, N.Y.) increased the FSC advantage to 4-1. The Rams followed with back-to-back goals from sophomore midfielder Alexandra Sparrow (Levittown, N.Y.) and senior midfielder Kristen Keller (Westbury, N.Y.) to go on top, 6-1, with 11:51 remaining in the half.
After increasing the advantage to 7-1 on a goal by Varone, Sparrow tallied an unassisted score to open up a seven-goal lead.
St. Joe's-LI (9-9) answered with a Diana Johnston (Commack, N.Y.) goal as sophomore attack Nicole Stoppelli (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) recorded the assist. The Rams closed the first half with scores from Varone, Keller and Sanchez to take an 11-2 lead into the break.
Leading 11-3 with 26:26 left to play, Keller tallied a goal off Sanchez's pass to bring the advantage back to nine. The Rams went ahead 14-3 after a Megan Sullivan (Farmingdale, N.Y.) score and a free-position goal by Keller at the 22:00 mark.
Over the final 16 minutes of action, each team scored twice as the Rams captured the championship, 16-5.
Keller finished with a game-high four goals, while Sanchez had a game-high eight points on three goals and five assists. Varone recorded three goals, five draw controls and four ground balls and Rosino added two assists.
Farmingdale State sophomore goalkeeper Tori Johnston (Hauppauge, N.Y.), who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2017 Skyline Championship, stopped 15 shots in the win.
Stoppelli led the way for SJC-LI with a team-high three points on two goals and one assist.
The Rams last appeared in the NCAA's in 2014 where they faced #2 Salisbury University.
Farmingdale State will now await their opponent and location for the 2017 NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Championship. The women's lacrosse selection show will air on Sunday, May 7th at 9:30 p.m.
To watch the live NCAA Women's Lacrosse selection show, click HERE.
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