Harty Helps Saints Rally Past Geneseo State, 16-13
by:
Tara FreemanKendall Harty '12 scored a career-high five goals against Geneseo State.
Mar. 30: Sophomore Kendall Harty scored a career-high five goals while classmate Margie Bailey added three more as the St. Lawrence University women's lacrosse team rallied for a 16-13 non-conference victory against Geneseo State on Tuesday afternoon at North Country Field.
The win moves the Scarlet and Brown to 6-1 on the season, while Geneseo State falls to 2-3 having suffered its third consecutive loss.
"I'm really proud of my team for their effort in a come-from-behind win against a good Geneseo squad," said St. Lawrence head coach Jodi Canfield. "In the second half, we created more turnovers and had more solid possessions leading to scoring opportunities. This sets a really good tone for us heading into the Liberty League season."
Geneseo State took control of the game in the opening half, building a seemingly-comfortable 9-4 lead after 30 minutes of play. Though Harty opened the scoring with two goals for St. Lawrence, Geneseo State answered with seven of the next eight goals to take a 7-3 cushion with 10:28 left in the first half.
Sophomore Alanna Piroli cut into the deficit with an unassisted goal at 23:32, but Abby Hungerford and Lauren Burgoon closed the first half scoring for the Blue Knights to give the visitors a five-goal lead at intermission.
The Saints would waste little time after the break to cut into the Geneseo State lead, as Harty picked up her fourth goal of the game only 14 seconds into the stanza. Junior captain Kelsey Redpath, senior captain Lexi Wisnowski and Harty would then tack on consecutive goals to pull the Saints to within one at 9-8 with 23:32 left in the half.
Though Rachel Petrone took the ensuing draw control the length of the field and scored to make it a 10-8 game for Geneseo, the home team would rattle off six of the next seven goals to take a 14-11 lead. Sophomore Nora Langan, Bailey and junior Kim Morse picked up goals for the Saints to take the lead at 11-10. After Hungerford netted a player-down goal to tie it at 11-11, Bailey, sophomore Paige Powell and Morse followed to open up the three-goal St. Lawrence lead with 10:22 remaining.
Hungerford tried to keep the Blue Knights in the game, scoring her fourth goal of the contest with 7:02 showing on the game clock to pull the visitors to within two at 14-12. However, Bailey and Redpath scored goals only 2:01 apart to give the Saints their largest lead at 16-12 with 3:42 left in regulation. Though Cassie Broton capped the game scoring for Geneseo State at 26:53, the Saints were able to control the ball and run out the clock to pick up their sixth win of 2010.
St. Lawrence netminder Anna Marchand was solid between the pipes, turning in 13 key saves to pick up the win. Geneseo State's Annie Smith was also impressive in net for the Knights, making 12 stops.
Piroli (2), senior captain Mary Jane Sweetland, Langan, Morse, Redpath and Wisnowski all tallied assists for St. Lawrence in the victory. The Saints finished with a 34-26 advantage in shots including a 22-10 lead in the second half. The home team also had more ground balls (21-19) and draw controls (18-13). Langan and Geneseo's Anna Hutchings had five draw controls each, while Bailey and senior Anna Parrott led the Saints with three ground balls each.
St. Lawrence will look to build on its momentum when they welcome the University of Rochester to North Country Field on Friday, April 2 to open the 2010 Liberty League season. The game between the Saints and Yellowjackets will begin at 4:00pm.