FARMINGDALE, NY – Hartwick's women's lacrosse team fell from the unbeaten ranks on Saturday with a 12-7 road loss at Farmingdale State. Six different Hawks found the net in the game, led by senior Brittany LaVaute (Skaneateles, NY/Skaneateles HS), who tallied two goals and one assist. Sophomore Brittany McCabe (Manorville, NY/Eastport South Manor HS) added a goal and two assists.
 
The Hawks are now 2-1 on the season following the setback. Farmingdale improves to 2-0 with the victory.
 
The Rams opened up their biggest lead of the game, 9-3, early in the second half before the Hawks fought back with three straight goals in an 8-minute span to trim the deficit to three with 16:43 remaining. 'Wick had a chance to make it a two-goal game later in the half but couldn't convert and FSC would score two in a row in the late stages to put the game away.
 
After Carly Schneider would put the Rams on top 3:09 into the game, Hartwick junior Erin Doyle (Syracuse, NY/Corcoran HS) scored a free-position goal to tie the game 3:52 later.
 
Just 35 ticks later, however, Nicole Marzocca would register the first of her game-high five tallies and Farmingdale was on top for good. The Rams would score three more times over the next 9:37 to take a 5-1 advantage.
 
The Hawks and Rams traded goals over the final 10 minutes of the half. Freshman attack Lisa Littleton (Yorktown, NY/Yorktown HS) scored at 9:44 and Krystin Shand answered at 7:35. Senior attack Emily Walsh (Cortland, NY/Cortland HS) would cut the Ram lead to three with 4:55 remaining, but Marzocca countered 18 seconds before halftime and the hosts led 7-3.
 
Two goals in the opening 5:54 of the second half extended the Rams' edge to six. LaVaute then scored with 23:32 left to trigger a Hawks' rally. McCabe fed Ryan McGovern (Miller Place, NY/Rocky Point HS) for a goal with 18:29 left. LaVaute then set up McCabe for a goal 1:47 later and the deficit was cut to three, 9-6.
 
Hartwick goalie Steph Luce (Saratoga Springs, NY/Saratoga Springs HS) came up with two saves in the next eight and a half minutes to keep the run alive. Senior midfielder Hannah Kennedy (Avon, CT/Avon HS) had a chance to make it a two-goal game for the Hawks with 11:35 to play but her shot was turned away by Ram keeper Courtney Cook.
 
Marzocca would beat Luce at the 7:13 mark to give FSC a four-goal cushion. Jillian Pironti made it 11-6 before Lavaute scored Hartwick's final goal with 2:27 showing on the clock. McCabe earned the assist. Marzocca closed out the scoring with 95 seconds left.
 
FSC finished the game with a slight edge in shots (26-21) and ground balls (28-21). The Rams won 14 of the game's 21 draws.
 
Luce would close the game with nine saves and three ground balls. Cook also had nine saves for the Rams.
 
LaVaute added a game-high five caused turnovers and a team-best six ground balls to go along with her two goals and one assist. Ali Sisco (Kendall Park, NJ/South Brunswick HS) added four ground balls and three caused turnovers and Kennedy had the team-high in draws with two.
 
Schneider and Pironti finished the game with two goals and an assist for the Rams. Christy Thoden grabbed nine of her team's 14 draw controls. She also had six ground balls.
 
Hartwick looks to get back into the win column on Wednesday. The Hawks will host Wells College at Wright Stadium beginning at 6 p.m.