Red Dragons Open NCAA Div. III Tournament with 22-6 Win vs. Castleton St.
CORTLAND, N.Y. – Senior Lindsay Abbott (South Onondaga/Onondaga Central) matched her season and career high of 10 points with four goals and six assists to lead the nationally second-ranked Cortland women's lacrosse team to a 22-6 win versus Castleton St. Wednesday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Div. III Women's Lacrosse Tournament.
The Red Dragons won their 17th straight game, improving to 18-1 on the season, and will host a four-team regional on Saturday and Sunday, May 12-13. Cortland will face Mary Washington (Va.) Saturday at 12:30 p.m., followed by Amherst (Mass.) vs. The College of New Jersey at 3:30 p.m. The winners will play Sunday at 1 p.m. in Cortland in the national quarterfinals.
The Spartans, who had won 10-of-11 games coming into the contest, ended their season at 12-7.
Junior Taylor Harney (Patchogue/Patchogue-Medford) tallied a career-best six points on three goals and three assists for Cortland. Sophomore Taylor Reh (Miller Place) recorded career highs of four goals and five points, senior Erin Kollar (East Islip) scored four times and junior Maria Di Fato (Camillus/West Genesee) netted three goals. Freshman Marilyn Farrell (Fayetteville/Fayetteville-Manlius) contributed two goals and three assists and her 28 assists on the season are a new Cortland freshman record. Juniors Laura Edward (Blue Point/Bayport-Blue Point) and Natalie Melaniff (Wantagh) each scored once.
Junior goalie Shauna Hutchinson (Islip Terrace/East Islip) improved her record to 18-1 on the season, playing the first 46 minutes, 30 seconds. Sophomore Courtney Morgan (Locust Valley) stopped four shots over the final 13:30. Sophomore Jessica Lavelle (Fayetteville/Fayetteville-Manlius) recorded game highs of six caused turnovers and five ground balls. Di Fato added four caused turnovers, Abbott registered four draw controls and three ground balls and Melaniff had four draws.
Senior Angelica Mazzola (Centerport/Harborfields) led the Spartans with three goals and seven draw controls. Sophomores Amanda Flodstrom (Stratham, NH/Exeter), JenniLee Mark (Chelmsford, MA) and Blake Wardwell (Bridgewater, VT/Woodstock) scored one goal apiece. Junior Danielle Roberts (St. Albans, VT/SUNY Plattsburgh) collected a team-high four ground balls, while Mark, sophomore Sarah Clark (Guilford, VT/Brattleboro) and freshman Kate Auer (South Glens Falls) each contributed three draws. Freshman goalie Kelsey McDonald (Burnt Hills/Burnt Hilla-Ballston Lake) turned aside five shots.
Di Fato and Edward gave Cortland an early 2-0 lead before Wardwell made it 2-1 at the 25:34 mark. Abbott then tallied three straight goals in a 53-second span to put Cortland up 5-2. After Mazzola scored for Castleton St., the Red Dragons ran off five straight goals to take control of the game, 10-2, with 6:09 remaining until the half. Mazzola stopped the run with her second of the game, but Cortland made it a 12-3 game at the break with scores from Di Fato and Farrell inside the final 2:15.
Kollar and Di Fato opened the second half with goals less than two minutes apart before Mark and Mazzola sandwiched goals around Kollar's second of the game, and Cortland led 15-5 with 20:48 to play.The Red Dragons netted the next six goals, two each from Kollar and Harney, to build a 21-5 lead. Flodstrom scored the Spartans' final goal from the free position at 5:25, and Reh completed the scoring off Harney's feed at 3:13 for the final of 22-6.
GAME SUMMARY:
Cortland 22, Castleton St.. 6
Team 1-2 Final
Castleton St.(12-7) 3-3 6
Cortland (18-1) 12-10 22
Scoring (Goals-Assists):
Castleton St.: Angelica Mazzola 3-0, Amanda Flodstrom 1-0, JenniLee Mark 1-0, Blake Wardwell 1-0
Cortland: Lindsay Abbott 4-6, Taylor Reh 4-1, Erin Kollar 4-1, Taylor Harney 3-3, Maria Di Fato 3-0, Marilyn Farrell 2-3, Laura Edward 1-0, Natalie Melaniff 1-0, Jordan Miller 0-1, Taylor Robinson 0-1, Liz Beville 0-1
Goalkeepers:
Castleton St.: Kelsey McDonald, 5 saves (22 GA in 60:00)
Cortland: Shauna Hutchinson, 0 saves (5 GA in 46:30), Courtney Morgan, 4 saves (1 GA in 13:30)
Shots: Cortland 31, Castleton St. 15
Ground Balls: Cortland 21, Castleton St. 16
Clears: Cortland 24-of-27, Castleton St. 10-of-15
Draw Controls: Castleton St. 20, Cortland 10
Caused Turnovers: Cortland 14, Castleton St. 7
Turnovers: Castleton St. 28, Cortland 15
Fouls: Cortland 38, Castleton St. 14
