FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dan Donohue, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information, 610-606-4666 x. 3725
CEDAR CREST LACROSSE HOLDS OFF ST. ELIZABETH IN 9-8 NAIL-BITER
Raritan, NJ (April 5, 2011) - In cold and rainy conditions at the College of St. Elizabeth, the Falcons built up a decent lead in the first half then weathered a determined comeback attempt by the host Eagles to bring home a nonconference victory.
Although the Eagles scored first just over a minute in on an unassisted Veronica Stawinski goal, Cedar Crest quickly netted three unanswered goals by Becca Lowe (Richmond, VA/James River), Mo Manning (Dimock, PA/Elk Lake), and Kara Malysza (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca East) over the next eight minutes to go up 3-1. The Falcons added three more over the next ten minutes from Danielle Niles (Glenn Falls, NY/Glen Falls), Jen Harbison (Phillipsburg, NJ/Phillipsburg), and Leia Epstein (Plymouth Meeting, PA/Plymouth Whitemarsh) which, combined with a second goal by Stawinski, put the Falcons up 6-2. The remaining minutes of the opening half saw evenly matched play but no further scoring, so Cedar Crest entered the break up four.
The teams traded goals in the opening of the second half with one each from Cedar Crest's Kenzie Bickhart (Selinsgrove, PA/Selinsgrove Area) and Katie Brown (Catskill, NY/Catskill) and a third from Stawinski to put Cedar Crest up 8-3. But the Falcons went cold and the Eagles refused to go away, scoring four unanswered goals to gradually get themselves back into contention. By 2:00 remaining in the game, Cedar Crest held on to a tenuous 8-7 lead until Lowe's second goal of the day seemed to give the Falcons a little cushion at 9-7 with 1:20 to play. St. Elizabeth took just :19 to return the favor however, and the margin was back at one goal, 9-8, with 1:01 to play. And the Eagles were not done, as they won the draw control and were able to get a shot off at the horn which was thankfully saved by Cedar Crest goalkeeper Kim Katsigianis (Amherst, NH/Souhegan) to prevent overtime. Katsigianis had a great game with 19 saves through 60:00 in goal.
The Falcons are now 2-7 overall and 1-2 in the CSAC, while St. Elizabeth drops to 1-6 and 0-3 in conference. The Falcons' next game will be on Spirit Day at home on Thursday, April 7th, at 4:00 p.m.
####
