FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College women's lacrosse team (7-10) saw its season come to a close on Wednesday, as the third-seeded Knights fell to No. 2 Farmingdale State College (10-6), 22-10, in the Skyline Conference Championship semifinals at Rams Field. The win advances the Rams to the Skyline Finals against top-seeded St. Joseph's College (L.I.), which defeated No. 4 Purchase College, 17-6, Wednesday evening.
The Knights earned their way into the Skyline Conference Championships for the third straight year under head coach
Julia Steese in 2015. They have been eliminated in the first round in each appearance, but matched a program record with a 5-2 mark against Skyline opponents this season.
The Rams quickly ran out to a 6-2 lead in the first 12 minutes of play on Wednesday, which included two goals by Nicole Marzocca. The Knights rallied back with three straight goals to cut the deficit to one, but the Rams turned the momentum back in their favor with five in a row to take an 11-5 advantage with 7:12 left in the first frame. Sophomore attacker
Katie Gattoni (Old Tappan, N.J.) and junior midfielder
Nicole Scicutella (Massapequa, N.Y.) each tallied their third goal of the game in the waning minutes of the opening half, but the Rams added three more to take a 14-7 advantage into the break.
Brittany Rosino opened the scoring for Farmingdale State in the second half, and then Jackie Kennedy followed up with three straight goals to put the home team up, 18-7. Junior defender
Claire Duffy (Monroe, N.Y.) found the back of the net to get within 10 again, but Kelly Geheran fired back a few minutes later to put the Rams back up by 11. Gattoni score 53 seconds later to cut it to 10 again, but Kristine Minogue responded for the Rams again just over a minute after. Nobody scored for 10 minutes after that point until Marzocca found the back of the net to take a 21-9 lead. Scicutella scored one more goal for the Knights with 2:43 left, but the Rams scored last with a Samantha Morra goal with 1:07 to play to reach the 22-10 final.
Marzocca had a stellar game for the Rams, totaling eight points on four goals and four assists to go along with game-highs of five ground balls and six draw controls. Kennedy scored five times and added an assists for six points. Rosino picked up a hat trick and added two helpers for a five-point night, while Alyssa Handel dished out three assists and netted two goals to match Rosino's five points.
Gattoni and Scicutella each scored four times apiece in Wednesday's semifinal matchup, with Scicutella adding an assist for team-high five points. Scicutella and Duffy matched for a team-leading four ground balls, and Duffy led the Knights with five draw controls.
Krista Spagnoletta picked up the win in between the pipes for the Rams, stopping eight shots in the process. Freshman goalkeeper
Emily Carboine (Hauppauge, N.Y.) made seven stop, but yielded 22 goals to suffer the loss.
The Knights' season does not end without numerous records falling. Gattoni finishes the season with 68 goals and 75 points, shattering both single-season records. Scicutella, who will graduate one year early, concludes her final season with a program-record 24 assists and 35 caused turnovers in 2015. She set a new career record with 44 total assists as well. Duffy set records with 88 draw controls and 69 ground balls this season, and she now holds the career records in both categories with 144 ground balls and 138 draw controls in just three seasons. She now also holds the career record for caused turnovers with 69.
Follow the Knights on Twitter at
@MSMCKnights and the women's lacrosse team at
@MSMC_WLax
