Stony Brook, N.Y. - The Stony Brook women's lacrosse team broke open its game against UMBC with three goals in the first 4:44 of the second half as the Seawolves tallied 12 goals in the second half and cruised to a 16-6 win over the Retrievers Wednesday night at LaValle Stadium.
Stony Brook has now won four straight games to improve to 9-3 overall and 2-0 in America East. UMBC falls to 4-7 overall and 1-2 in the league.
Junior Janine Hillier (Farmingdale, N.Y.) led all players with a season-high six goals, all coming in the second half when the Seawolves outscored UMBC 12-3. Hillier added one assist for a seven-point night. Junior Claire Petersen (Wantagh, N.Y.) had three goals and two assists. Freshman Michelle Rubino (East Setauket, N.Y.) scored two goals and had an assist and had six draw controls to become Stony Brook's all-time single-season leader (68), surpassing the previous record of 63.
Other Seawolves who scored goals included freshman Amber Kupres (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.), junior Demmianne Cook (Nesconset, N.Y.), junior Kaitlyn Harrison (West Babylon, N.Y.) and freshman Kelly Kuerner (Lake Grove, N.Y.). Junior goalkeeper Frankie Caridi (East Northport, N.Y.) made nine saves in net to lead Stony Brook.
UMBC's Lindsay Cox led the Retrievers with two goals and an assist. Taeler Errington also scored two goals for UMBC.
 |
"The story tonight was all about our defense and goalie play," head coach Joe Spallina said. "The girls played well on both ends. Michelle Rubino was outstanding on the draw, which allowed us to get our offense flowing in the second half. The way Janine played in the second half was important for us as a program. We have to get back to work tomorrow to play a tough Vermont team on Saturday."
The first half proved to be a defensive battle with neither team wrangling control of the game. The game was tied at 2-2 when Petersen scored on a free position shot at 8:36. At 5:47, Kupres took a pass from Petersen and tallied a goal to give SBU a 4-2 lead. But UMBC fought back and scored at 4:40 and went into halftime down 4-3. UMBC's Kendall Mason made five saves on Stony Brook in the first half.
The Seawolves quickly adjusted and started striking on offense. Petersen took the ball and scored twice unassisted at 28:02 and 25:56. Forty seconds after her goal, Hillier faked a handoff and past defenders towards the net and scored easily to make 7-3 with just 4:44 off the clock in the second half.
Hillier scored again at 19:33 and 13:39 to make it 10-5 Seawolves. Ten seconds after Hillier's goal, Rubino won the draw control and dished to Cook for an easy goal to make it 11-5.
After Cox scored for UMBC at 7:23 to make it 11-6, it was all Seawolves as Hillier took the ball and pounded the Retrievers defense. She scored two goals 22 seconds apart and then assisted on Harrison's goal at 1:24 before scoring her sixth and final goal on a dish from Petersen with 20 seconds remaining in the game.
For the game, Stony Brook outshot UMBC 26-20 and won the draw control battle 17-7.
The Seawolves will next face Vermont Saturday at LaValle Stadium at 1 p.m.
