FARMINGDALE, N.Y. | The Farmingdale State College women's lacrosse suffered its first Skyline Conference setback of the season Saturday afternoon, as the Rams (5-7, 3-1) fell by a 12-5 decision to visiting U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (6-2, 2-0).
USMMA potted the first five goals of the contest, with senior Jessie Wohner (Norfolk, Va.; 4 g, a) and junior Jenna Turrentine (Kennesaw, Ga.; game-high 5 g, 7 pts.) trading goals before the former's tally with 13:22 remaining in the first half gave the Mariners its 5-0 edge.
The host Rams pulled one back with 6:58 to go in the second quarter when senior Chayanne Melendez (Brentwood, N.Y.) converted a feed from classmate Anna Zaborowska (E. Patchogue, N.Y.) for her sixth goal of the campaign. USMMA answered with Wohner's 42nd goal of the season 28 seconds later, and took a 6-1 advantage into halftime.
After sophomore Kaitlin Latchaw (Phoenix, Md.) scored the first of her three goals of the second half 19 seconds into play resuming for the visitors, FSC registered goals by sophomore Nicole Pontecorvo (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) with 7:57 to go in the third frame, and Zaborowska in a player-up situation with 4:31 to go to pull to within 7-3. Turrentine and Latchaw then scored 1:26 apart from one another, with USMMA taking a 9-3 margin into the final period of play.
Junior Marina Zumbrunn (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) registered her 12th goal of the campaign off Zaborowska's third and final assist of the afternoon 3:29 into the final stanza, before Latchaw and Turrentine responded to give the Mariners an 11-4 lead with 9:13 remaining.
USMMA held edges in shots (34-11), ground balls (29-11) and draw controls (13-8), with senior Maddie Schmidt (Mechanicsville, Va.) leading her side with a game-high-tying six ground balls and four caused turnovers. Junior Jaqui Sheedy (Baltimore, Md.) and Schmidt controlled six and four draws in the victory, respectively.
Farmingdale State received a 15-save effort in net, including nine stops in the first half, by sophomore netminder Ronnie Reilly (Oceanside, N.Y.), while Zaborowska led all players with six caused turnovers and a game-high-tying six ground balls to increase her Skyline Conference leads to 46 and 59, respectively. Junior attacker Athena Vogiatzis (Holtsville, N.Y.) collected her 30th goal of the season for the Rams.
Head coach Erin Calkins will lead the Rams into another crucial Skyline Conference showdown at home on Wednesday afternoon (April 13), when Farmingdale State plays host to Maritime College in a 4 p.m. opening draw.