No. 2 Women's Lacrosse Overwhelms Molloy in ECC Semis, 16-4
Box Score BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (May 1, 2014) - Six different players tallied multi-point efforts for the Pioneers on Thursday to lift the second-ranked LIU Post women's lacrosse team past Molloy, 16-4, in an East Coast Conference Championship semifinal at Hickox Field in Brookville, N.Y.
The victory sends the green and gold to Saturday's final, where they will host either second-seeded Dowling or third-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas at Hickox Field at noon.
LIU Post (17-0) got out to a strong start in the contest, netting five unanswered goals, four of which were scored in a five-minute span. Freshman attacker
Stefani Vagelatos (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) put the Pioneers on the board first just 1:10 in. She had two tallies in the game-opening run. Senior attacker
Jackie Sileo (Wantagh, N.Y.) dished out assists on the first two markers.
More than two minutes after
Samantha Losco (Smithtown, N.Y.) gave the hosts a five-goal cushion, Molloy (9-7) sophomore midfielder Katie O'Brien (Oyster Bay, N.Y.) struck for the first of her three scores on the day to cut the deficit to 5-1.
However, the Pioneers closed out the opening half on a 7-0 run to bring a commanding 12-1 advantage into the intermission. Sileo recorded four points (2 G, 2 A) in the spurt. Losco added three points (2 G, 1 A). Senior midfielder
Katie Rotan (West Islip, N.Y.) pitched in two points (1 G, 1 A).
That proved to be all LIU Post needed, as the Lions never trimmed the deficit to fewer than 10 goals (12-2) in the latter session.
Sileo led the offensive charge, collecting three goals and five assists for an eight-point output. Rotan amassed six points (4 G, 2 A), four ground balls, three draw controls and one caused turnover. Losco racked up four points (3 G, 1 A), three ground balls and one caused turnover. Vagelatos notched a hat trick, while senior attacker
Morgan Chiarenza (Nesconset, N.Y.) registered two goals and an assist. Freshman midfielder
Connor Bird (Syosset, N.Y.) dished out two assists and won five draws.
Between the pipes, senior goalie
Katie Hannan (Gansevoort, N.Y.) stopped 11 shots for the Pioneers, who dominated the shot (42-19) and draw control (29-16) battles. Sophomore goalie Caroline Winters (Baldwin, N.Y.) made 15 saves for Molloy.
On clears, LIU Post posted a 77.7 success rate (14-of-18). It was also 2-of-3 (66.7 percent) on free-position shots.
For the full bracket of the 2014 ECC Women's Lacrosse Championship, please click
here.