NEW PALTZ, NY – With the score tied at three in the later portion of the first half, the New Paltz women's lacrosse team scored five in a row entering the break and never looked back en route to a 19-7 victory over Hartwick. New Paltz is now above .500 for the season at 2-1, while 'Wick drops to 1-2.
GinaMarie Wilson (East Meadow, NY/East Meadow) got the scoring in the Battle of the Hawks started in the first 30 seconds of the game, converting on a free position shot at 29:34. New Paltz's Tara Bovich tied it up at 24:08, assisted by Maddy Carullo, but Jennifer Darasz (Gorham, ME/Gorham) made like Wilson and scored on a free position shot with 9:26 gone by to give 'Wick back the lead. Bovich and Carullo had the next two tallies in the middle ten minutes of the half (with Carullo's assisted by Katie Zito), and after Darasz earned a yellow card New Paltz looked poised for more.
Hartwick shut that down, however, and Alexa Matarazzo (Commack, NY/Commack) scored at 11:58 down a woman off of a Wilson pass to knot the score at three. After over six scoreless minutes, the home team made their move, tallying five times in 3:37 to take an 8-3 lead into the break. Zito got the first of the run at 5:41, assisted by Carullo, who then made it 5-3 on a free position shot at 4:51. Carullo scored again off an Amy Hofer pass at 3:33, and Hofer converted from free position at 2:44. Jennifer O'Leary got the fifth and final goal of the half at 2:04, on a Carullo feed.
Hofer opened the second half scoring 17 seconds in, after New Paltz had earned a free position attempt that ended up with a Shannon Brosnan feed to Hofer. Darasz got the deficit back to five on a free position shot at 26:09, but Hofer (from Bovich) got it right back to six under a minute later at 25:13. Hofer picked up the hat trick on a free position goal exactly two minutes later, making it 11-4.
Cassie Durkin (Fayetteville, NY/Jamesville Dewitt) earned a free-position shot and subsequently picked up her fifth goal of the season at 21:30 to make it 11-5. That was the closest Hartwick would be for the rest of the afternoon, as New Paltz scored the next eight goals to extend their lead to 19-5 and put the game away.
Following Emily Schaub's (Brewster, NY/Brewster) yellow card, Ella Malanga scored woman-up at 18:23 to begin the run. Carullo had the next two, with the second assisted by Malanga, followed by two more Hofer tallies to make it 16-5 at 14:14. Brosnan got in the goal column from O'Leary next, Bovich followed with her third of the day, and Zito assisted Carullo's sixth of the game at 8:16, making the score 19-5. Rachel Hedden (Burlington, CT/Central Conn. State) scored the final two goals, but it was too little, too late, for 'Wick.
Hedden (two goals), Darasz (two goals), and Wilson (one goal, one assist) tied for the team high of two points. Darasz also led the Hawks with five draw controls and picked up a ground ball, Hedden had four draw controls and a caused turnover, and Wilson tied with Durkin for the team lead with three ground balls, as well as a caused turnover. Ashley Jablonowski (Levittown, NY/Island Trees) played the first half in net for Hartwick, making ten saves and allowing eight goals, while Jennifer Paszko (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury) made seven saves on 18 shots in the second half.
Carullo led the way for New Paltz with nine points on six goals and three assists, as well as a ground ball and a caused turnover. Hofer had a game-high 12 shots en route to six goals and one point, leading all players with five ground balls in addition. Hofer also had two caused turnovers and a draw control. Bovich was at four points on three goals and an assist to go with three caused turnovers, and Zito had three points (one goal, two assists) and a ground ball. Brosnan had the game high in draw controls, at eight, along with a goal, an assist, and three ground balls, while Megan Tornatore led all players with four caused turnovers. Haley Timarky played the first 47:48 in goal, making seven saves on 12 shots. Julia Culhane ate up the last 12:12 of game time, giving up two goals on three shots.
New Paltz had a big upper hand in the shot column, at 45-18, as well as a 36-15 lead in shots on goal. They easily won the turnover battle, giving the ball up 11 times to Hartwick's 24, and were more efficient on clears with far more attempts at 22-of-23 to 'Wick's 10-of-12. New Paltz picked up 15 ground balls to Hartwick's 11, and had a 15-12 advantage in draw controls.
'Wick will try and get back on track next time out when they take on future Empire 8 rival Keuka. The Hawks meet the Wolves in Keuka Park on Wednesday, March 11 at 4 p.m.
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