April 24, 2009

2009 Patriot League Women's Lacrosse Championship Page

Hamilton, N.Y. - No. 3 seed Navy and No. 1 seed Colgate won their semfinal games in the Patriot League Women's Lacrosse Tournament on Friday at Tyler's Field, advancing to face off in the Patriot League Championship on Sunday at 1 p.m.

In just its second season as a Patriot League member, Navy beat No. 2 seed Lehigh, 12-11, in the first semifinal. The top-seeded Raiders scored a 15-11 victory on their home field over No. 4 seed Bucknell in the nightcap.

Colgate opened up a 10-6 halftime lead by scoring the last four goals of the first half, and finished with the final three scores of the contest to defeat Bucknell, 15-11. The Raiders improved to 13-4 with the win, while Bucknell dropped to 9-8. Navy built a 12-7 lead and held on as Lehigh scored the final four goals of the contest. Navy improved to 13-4 overall, while the Mountain Hawks saw their season come to an end with an 11-6 mark.

After Bucknell scored the first two goals in just over five minutes of play, the Raiders answered with five straight tallies. Ashley Didio notched the final two goals in the stretch, giving Colgate a 5-2 lead with 16:54 to go. Bucknell rallied in the next seven minutes, scoring four of the next five goals to tie the score at 6-6 on Becca Devine's goal with 9:40 to go. But Colgate had the final surge of the first half, tallying the last four goals to build a 10-6 halftime lead.

Bucknell answered to open the second half, with Bonnie Buechel going on a personal three-goal streak to cut Colgate's lead to 10-9 with 16:19 left. The Raiders scored two goals in the final minute, with Colleen Bubnack scoring with just 10 seconds to go. The teams exchanged the next four goals, with Bucknell staying within one at 12-11 when Carol Donohue scored with 6:40 to go in the game. Colgate's defense held the Bison off the scoreboard the rest of the way, and the Raiders got some breathing room when Brie Moran scored with 4:18 left and Bubnack tallied with 2:25 to go. Courtney Miller finished the scoring with 25 seconds left.

Didio, Miller and Meghan Lawler each scored three goals for Colgate, while Brie Moran had two goals and tied a Patriot League Tournament record with four assists. Bubnack also finished with two goals for the Raiders. Sara Drexler got the win in goal, stopping four shots and allowing three goals in 19:19 of action in the second half.

Buechel had four goals and two assists to lead Bucknell, who also got a pair of goals from Donohue, Chelsea Peters and Michelle Milot. Alyssa DeLorenz made 10 saves in net for the Bison.

Colgate held the advantage in shots (31-22) and ground balls (27-22), while Bucknell had a 16-12 edge in draw controls. The Bison committed 27 turnovers, while the Raiders only had 17.

Navy scored the first two goals of the contest against Lehigh to take a lead it would hold throughout. Erin Rawlick scored the first of her four goals on the afternoon and assisted on a Mary Ruttum tally as the Mids took a 2-0 lead less than two minutes into the game. Lehigh got on the board with a goal by Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year Lauren Dykstra with 23:54 to go. Navy held a 3-2 lead when Rawlick provided some breathing room with back-to-back goals to make it a 5-2 advantage with 14:31 to play in the half. Navy held a 6-3 advantage before Dykstra scored late in the first half to cut Lehigh's deficit to 6-4 at the break.

Lehigh got back within 6-5 on a Kelly Draper goal just over 30 seconds into the second half, and had the deficit at only 7-6 before the Mids started to take over. Ruttum made it an 8-6 Navy lead with 24:05 to go, and goals by Rawlick and Dani Vivonetto pushed Navy's lead to 10-6 with 17:23 left. Lehigh cut the gap to 10-7 with 11 minutes to play, but Navy pushed to its biggest lead of the game as goals by Madison Bell and Lexi Dauernheim made it 12-7 with just 8:34 remaining in the game. The Mountain Hawks cut it to 12-8 on Dykstra's goal with 7:19 left, and scored three times in a span of 1:13 to come all the way within 12-11 on a Meagan Tenety goal with 31 seconds to play. Navy controlled the ensuing draw to halt Lehigh's rally and move on to the Championship game.

Rawlick led all players with four goals and three assists for a seven-point outing. Vivonetto and Ruttum each scored twice for the Mids. Dykstra led Lehigh with three goals, while Tenety, Sara McIntyre and Lauren Murray each scored twice. Elaina Ponchione made nine saves in goal for the Mids, while Lehigh goalkeeper Kelsy Ferris stopped six shots.

Lehigh held a 29-24 advantage in shots, and a 20-18 edge in shots on goal. The Mountain Hawks had eight free position shot attempts to Navy's two. Navy held the advantage in ground balls (24-21) and draw controls (14-11).

The Patriot League Women's Lacrosse Championship game is available via Patriot League All-Access, with John McGraw calling the action from Colgate. The Raiders defeated the Mids, 10-4, on March 28 in Annapolis in the regular-season meeting between the teams.

For more information, including box scores from each of the games, please visit the 2009 Patriot League Women's Lacrosse Championship Page