No. 1 Women's Lacrosse Drubs STAC in "Battle at Bethpage", 18-9
Box Score BETHPAGE, N.Y. (Apr. 26, 2014) - On Saturday, the No. 1 LIU Post women's lacrosse team completed another perfect regular season with an 18-9 rout of East Coast Conference foe St. Thomas Aquinas at Bethpage High School in Bethpage, N.Y.
The contest was part of the fourth-annual "Battle at Bethpage", hosted by the Bethpage Educational Foundation and the Town of Oyster Bay. It wa preceded by a Division I match-up between Ivy League rivals Princeton and Cornell.
Down 3-2 halfway through the opening stanza, the Pioneers (16-0, 7-0 ECC) closed out the period on a 7-0 run to take a 9-3 lead into the intermission. Senior attacker
Jackie Sileo (Wantagh, N.Y.) accounted for four of the goals, three of which came in a stint of 1:02. Fellow senior attacker
Samantha Losco (Smithtown, N.Y.) added two quick ones herself just 40 seconds apart.
In the latter session, the Spartans (12-4, 6-2 ECC) got out to a strong start. Bookended by tallies from Samantha Lowney (Valley Cottage, N.Y.), St. Thomas Aquinas netted three of the half's first four goals to close the gap to 10-6 with 23:02 remaining.
That rally attempt was quickly silenced though, as LIU Post rolled off five unanswered markers to put the contest out of reach at the 19:16 mark. Sileo got things going once again, tickling the twine off a feed from junior midfielder
Jenna Pierro (Holbrook, N.Y.), who scored in the run as well. Losco wrapped it up, tallying two goals and a helper.
Sileo finished with a game-best eight points (7 G, 1 A). Losco amassed four goals and two assists for a six-point output. Pierro had five points (4 G, 1 A), alongside seven draw controls. Senior attacker
Morgan Chiarenza (Nesconset, N.Y.) dished out four assists and scooped up three ground balls. Senior midfielder
Katie Rotan (West Islip, N.Y.) and freshman attacker
Stefani Vagelatos (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) chipped in three points apiece.
Freshman midfielder
Connor Bird (Syosset, N.Y.) won a game-best eight draws. Freshman defender/midfielder
Cara Douglas (West Islip, N.Y.) picked up two draw controls. Sophomore defender/midfielder
Honey Roche (Centerport, N.Y.) collected two ground balls and two caused turnovers. Senior defender
Melissa Rohr (Bethpage, N.Y.) accumulated three ground balls and one draw.
Between the pipes, senior goalie
Katie Hannan (Gansevoort, N.Y.) made five saves for the Pioneers in the victory. Sophomore Kaitlyn Lonergan (Stony Point, N.Y.) turned aside 11 shots for STAC.
Overall, LIU Post owned a 36-19 advantage in shots and a 20-9 edge in draw controls. It was also 9-of-12 (75.0 percent) on clears and 3-of-8 (37.5 percent) on free-position shots.
Head Coach
Meghan McNamara and the Pioneers have now secured the ECC regular-season title, and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming league tournament. They will square off with fourth-seeded Molloy on Thursday (May. 1) in a semifinal tilt at Hickox Field in Brookville, N.Y. The opening draw is set for 3 p.m.