EWING, N.J. – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's lacrosse team advanced to the third round of the NCAA Division III Championships for the first time in program history with a 15-9 win over The College of New Jersey Sunday afternoon.
Alison Lax scored a game and career-high five goals;
Anna Velardi had three assists and four points,
Maddie Hogan &
Stefanie Sellitto each had three goals and four points,
Rebecca Guerra had two assists and three points, while
Emily Leiby and
Emily Smart each had a goal and an assist.
Quincy Connell,
Lauren Sullivan, and Sellitto combined for 14 of the Ducks' 20 draw controls while Connell and Leiby caused five turnovers between them
HOW IT HAPPENED
In an opening quarter that featured just two combined goals, Sellitto scored in the opening two minutes for the Ducks with the Lions finding the back of the net just past the midway point of the period.
The Ducks quickly opened a comfortable cushion in the second, with Guerra, Smart, Sellitto, and Lax all scoring in the first 5:20 of the quarter. TCNJ got a goal back just over a minute after the spurt ended, but Lax tacked on her second in the final four minutes, putting the Ducks back up four, 6-2 at the half.
Lax completed her hat trick and Velardi added one 35 seconds later, pushing the Stevens' lead to 8-2 early in the third. After TCNJ (14-5) got another goal back, again, the Ducks responded in even more resounding fashion, with Lax tacking on her fourth and
Maddie Hogan adding two free-position goals, the lead ballooning to 11-3 in the process. Lax sandwiched her fifth of the game around a pair of Lions goals late in the quarter, with the Red and Gray carrying a 12-5 lead to the fourth.
Stevens maintained at least a six-goal cushion throughout the fourth, with Sellitto, Leiby, and Hogan adding a goal apiece and
Felicity Heilferty making the last of her nine saves in the game.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- The Ducks picked up just their second win over TCNJ dating back to the 2005 season, with their previous win coming April 29, 2010.
- TCNJ had corralled at least 10 draw controls in every game this season; the Ducks held them to eight on Sunday.
- TCNJ had scored at least one free-position goal in every game this season and taken at least three free-position shots in all but one; the Ducks held them without a free-position shot on Sunday.
- TCNJ's Marissa Lucca came into Sunday with 64 goals and 110 points in 18 games this season, scoring at least five points in 14 contests; the Ducks held her to one goal and two points.
- Lax's five-goal game gave her 17 in her last six outings after totaling 15 in her first 15 games of the season.
- Quincy Connell finished with at least three caused turnovers for the fifth straight game.
- Hogan scored at least twice for the 11th straight game.
UP NEXT
Next Saturday, May 17, the Ducks face Colby College, who've been ranked in the Top 5 of every IWLCA weekly poll since March 17, in Waterville, Maine at a time to-be-determined.
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