ROCHESTER, NY – A long wait between games made slightly longer finally ended this afternoon for the Hartwick women's lacrosse team. Three-hundred ninety-two days after their matchup with New Paltz on March 7, 2020, the Hawks finally got back to it against Empire 8 rival Nazareth. The host Golden Flyers came out on top this go-around, topping the Hawks by a score of 18-6. With the win, Nazareth is now 3-3 on the season and 2-0 in the Empire 8, while Hartwick drops to 0-1 both overall and in the conference.
The Hawks broke the ice 2:04 into the contest, when GinaMarie Wilson (East Meadow, NY/East Meadow) tallied unassisted. Nazareth's Emma States knotted the game just 47 seconds later, and then 27 seconds after that 'Wick's Alexa Matarazzo (Commack, NY/Commack) sent an Amy Tracy (Smithtown, NY/Florida Southern College) feed into the back of the net to regain the lead. From there until the end of the half, however, it was all Nazareth. The hosts scored 13 unanswered goals to close out the initial thirty minutes, including a pair of hat tricks from Callahan Lyon and Emma Robinson, to take a 14-2 advantage into the locker room.
Wilson again got the first goal of the half in the second thirty, putting home another unassisted score at 27:12. After two more Golden Flyers goals (each assisted by Regan McGwin), Rachel Hedden (Burlington, CT/Central Conn. State) got on the board for 2021 with two unassisted tallies and Tracy followed up with a goal of her own, making the score 16-6 with 8:48 remaining. The Hawks could not sustain the momentum, though, as Nazareth had the only two goals over the remainder of the game to close out their win.
Hedden and Wilson were the day's offensive leaders for the visitors, as the former scored twice on a team-high five shots and the latter had two goals on four shots as well as a game-high six draw controls. Claudia Pollaro (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury) made an impact in her collegiate debut, scooping up four ground balls, controlling two draws, and causing one turnover. Jennifer Paszko (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury) had nine saves on 27 shots in net.
States had the high watermark in goals for Nazareth, with four on a game-high seven shots. Lyon and Robinson picked up their aforementioned hat tricks, while Emily Paddock had two goals, a team-high five draw controls, and two ground balls on the day. Vicki Arena also had five draw controls, tying with Paddock for the team lead. Katie Lawrence played the bulk of the game in net for the Golden Flyers, making three saves on five shots in 46:32. Emma Prosak played the final 13:28 in goal, allowing one shot by her.
Nazareth had a big upper hand in the shot column, at 34-16, including a 27-9 advantage in shots on goal. They also won the turnover battle, 18-10, and were a perfect 20-of-20 on clear attempts (compared to 'Wick's solid 12-of-14). The Golden Flyers picked up 19 ground balls to the Hawks' 9, and had a slim 14-12 advantage in draw controls as well.
'Wick takes the field at Wright Stadium for their home opener (and Senior Day) this coming Wednesday, April 7 at 4 p.m, when they will take on the Utica College Pioneers.
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