PATCHOGUE, NY – The Hartwick women's lacrosse team fell behind early, battled back and kept the advantage in a 9-6 win over St. Joseph's Long Island in its season opener Sunday afternoon at Danzi Stadium. The Hawks used five scorers to start the season 1-0 and hand the Golden Eagles their second loss of the season (0-2).
           
The Golden Eagles scored the game's first two points but saw the Hawks close out the first half on a 7-1 run. The host turned around and rattled off two more to open the second half of play but 'Wick would again outscore SJC, 2-1, to round out the afternoon.
           
Lauren Rosenberg's (Smithtown, NY/Commack) four goals led all players. She added three ground balls, one caused turnover, and one draw control.  Ashley Werner (Saugerties, NY/Saugerties) (2), Hailey Pooler (Adams Center, NY/South Jefferson), Kayla Tracey (Bardonia, NY/Clarkstown South) and Jennifer Darasz (Gorham, ME/Gorham) each pitched in goals. Pooler bested all with four helpers.
           
Kristin Carroll scored two off the bench while Emily Fey, Diana Johnston, Brooke Kreuscher and Nicole Stoppelli also contributed fort the Golden Eagles. Stoppelli, Carroll and Fey added two dishes as well.
           
St. Joseph's struck first inside the opening three minutes and followed that up with another goal at the 24:32 mark. Fey and Johnston credited the goals with help from Stoppelli coming on the second scoring play.
           
Hartwick quickly caught fire scoring seven of the next eight goals, the first of the surge came in the 24^th minute and the last occurred 15 ticks before the halftime horn.
           
Rosenberg rattled off four goals in the run while Darasz, Tracey and Werner also found nylon in the first half. Pooler added assists to four of the goals while Hazel Flores (Brentwood, NY/Brentwood) also had a hand in the Hawks' 7-3 advantage at the intermission.
           
Out of the break, the Golden Eagles closed in on the visitor's lead on the heels of goals by Stoppelli and Carroll.
           
Scoring then took a slight pause for about ten minutes interrupted by Pooler who saw her goal put the Blue and White back up three with 11:33 left to play.
           
Carroll connected on the cage once more, to bring the host within two with eight minutes left. With just 2:48 pictured on the game clock, Emma Knapp (Canandaigua, NY/Marcus Whitman) connected with Werner who sent a shot beyond the Golden Eagles' keeper to deepen the St. Joseph's deficit.
           
Both teams attempted 21 shots. Four of the Hawks' attempts were stopped by Golden Eagles' goalie, Lindsay Ramos. Ashley Jablonowski (Levittown, NY/Island Trees) rejected seven of the Golden Eagle tries. Each team was nearly identical in ground balls (15-14, SJC) and SJC owned the margin in draw controls at 10-7.
           
Hartwick plays its first Empire 8 contest at Ithaca on March 8 beginning at 4 p.m.