By Matt Faulkner
(Poughkeepsie, NY – Feb. 19, 2013) On a cold and rainy afternoon, it was appropriate that the Colgate women’s lacrosse team was led by a player with the last name Flood as Alison Flood had five goals in a 16-12 win at Marist
Colgate (2-0) saw the junior Flood tie her career-high with five goals. Monica White contributed with four goals and Emily Peebles tallied her first two collegiate goals. Laruen Gorajek also netted her first goal in her Colgate career. Kate Sheridan recorded five points on two goals and a game-high four assists.
Colgate led throughout the game and was able to hold off a pair of charges from Marist, especially with under five minutes left.
“I think it is great that the team was able to respond,” head coach Heather Young said. “A midweek game when you’re going down-and-back is tough. Hats off to Marist, because they didn’t stop competing. But this young into the season, it was great to see our girls respond back and hang onto the lead.”
Jennie Berglin was once again solid in net with nine saves, including five in the second half, when she needed to step up. Berglin was also a major reason for Colgate’s defense on free-position shots for Marist as the Red Foxes went 3-for-9.
“We were a little flat footed today, which led to their chances,” Young said. “So you’re going to foul more. It would have been a turning point if they were able to connect on more of those, but Berglin made some good saves. We need to make sure we don’t put them on the line because that’s a big part of the game”
Marist (0-2) got four goals from Ashley Miller and three from Kirsten Viscount. Tierney Larson added a pair of goals and three assists for five points. Ashley Casiano got the start and stopped four Colgate shots. Liz Holmes saw 20 minutes of action and made two saves.
The Raiders came out on fire, scoring four goals on their first four shots, highlighted by two goals from White. Sheridan and Flood added the first two with Sheridan’s coming 55 seconds into the games. Gorajek then pushed the lead up to 5-0 with her first collegiate goal with 17:51 remaining in the first half with a feed from Sheridan.
Marist sliced into the lead with three-straight goals to cut the Raider advantage down to 5-3. Two of the three goals came on free-position shots. Amanda O’Sullivan stopped the bleeding with a free-position of her own to make it 6-3. Then White tallied her third of the game with 6:23 remaining in the half to put the lead back up to four at 7-3.
Peebles gave the Raiders a five-goal lead going into the half with her first collegiate goal to make it 8-3. Colgate held Marist scoreless for the final 12:24 of the first half and that was thanks to two big saves by Berglin on free-position shots.
The teams traded the first two goals of the final half with Peebles adding her second of the day, which made it 9-4, 2:36 into the second. Marist answered with three of the next four goals to get to within three at 10-7. Viscount had two of the three goals for the Red Foxes.
The Raiders again were able to answer the spurt by Marist with three-straight scores from Ark, Flood and O’Sullivan. The run gave Colgate its largest lead at 13-7 with 17:21 left in the game.
After trading goals, the Red Foxes made their final push to get the win with four-consecutive scores with two from Miller. Marist had cut the lead to two at 14-12, prompting the Raiders to call timeout.
Young settled down her team and Flood added her fifth of the day with 6:30 left to make it 15-12. The Raiders had a great offensive possession as they were able to control the ball and fire four shots with the fourth coming from Flood. White sealed the victory with her fourth score coming with 21 seconds remaining and the Raiders earned their second win of the year with a 16-12 victory.
It rained the entire game, which made the field slick, but it didn’t affect the game too much.
“It was field turf, which our girls love playing on but it was definitely getting under our cleats and caused us to slip a few times.,” said Young.
The stats were very even in the box score as Marist had a slim 30-27 shot advantage, while Colgate had 17 ground balls to 16 for the Red Foxes. Marist had a 16-14 lead in draws and the teams combined for 27 turnovers, which part of the reason was the rainy conditions.
Colgate is back on the field at11 a.m. on Saturday with a visit to Hoftstra.