Women's Lacrosse Advances to
Skyline Championship
UNION, N.J. (04/30/08) - The Kean University
women's lacrosse team advanced to the Skyline Conference
championship for the first time in program history after defeating
College of Mount Saint Vincent, 14-13, in the semifinals on
Wednesday evening.
Junior attack Stephanie Cirino (Warminster,
Pa.) (pictured right) finished with four goals, giving her
73 for the season and breaking the single season goals record of 69
goals held by Melissa Nunez (2005).
The Cougars, who defeated the Dolphins by an identical 14-13
score four days ago in the regular season finale, advance to a
championship game for the first time in program history after also
competing in the Knickerbocker Women's Lacrosse Conference
tournament for three straight years (2003, 2004, 2005).
For the Dolphins, freshman attack Lauren Perla (Holbrook,
N.Y.) led the team with four goals and one assist.
After Kean built a 4-2 lead nearly midway through the first
half, the Dolphins rattled off four straight goals, including
back-to-back tallies from freshman Jessie Mitchell (Suffern,
N.Y.), to take a 6-4 advantage with 13:42 remaining in the
half.
Trailing 8-7 late in the first half, Kean scored four unanswered
goals spanning the first and second halves to build an 11-8 lead
nearly 10 minutes into the second half.
The two teams traded goals three times over the next 13 minutes
of the half, before Mount Saint Vincent netted back-to-back goals
to pull within one goal (14-13) with 4:23 remaining. The
Cougars controlled possession over the next couple of minutes,
however the Dolphins regained possession of the ball with under a
minute remaining but were unable to get the ball past the Cougar
defense.
Freshman attack Rosalia Romeo (Ridgewood, N.J.)
had three goals and two assists, while classmate Amanda
South (Fairless, Pa.) added three goals in the
victory.
In the goal, Kean rookie Ashlie Berghold (Boyertown,
Pa.) and Dolphin sophomore Jackie Horn (Setauket,
N.Y.) each made nine saves.
For the Dolphins, Mitchell added three goals, six groundballs
and two caused turnovers.
The Cougars travel to defending Skyline Champion Montclair State
University on Saturday, May 3, at Sprague Field at 1 p.m.
