February 24, 2007

Boxscore

LAURINBURG, N.C.—St. Andrews Presbyterian College scored six goals in the final 20 minutes to pull away for a 9-5 NCAA Division II women’s lacrosse victory over visiting Presbyterian College on Saturday afternoon.

Sophomore attack Katie Wright (Waterloo, N.Y.) helped the Knights even their overall record to 3-3 with a five-point performance. The Blue Hose maintain a 2-2 overall ledger after only scoring five goals on 32 shots.

St. Andrews looked in control early jumping out to a 3-0 lead midway through the first half. The Knights got goals from Wright, sophomore Farran Sanders (Hickory, N.C.), and senior Corey Whitbeck (Newark, N.Y.) during the run.

PC broke through in the 16th minute on a sophomore Sally Maple (Peachtree City, Ga.) free-position goal. Senior Kelly Sisson ( Greenville, S.C.) cut the Blue Hose deficit to one, 3-2, before halftime with her first goal of the season in the 27th minute.

Freshman Rachel Beaumont (Severna Park, Md.) kept the momentum out of the intermission for Presbyterian by netting the only tying goal of the game (3-3) with 25:35 left in the second half on a free-position shot.

Wright ended a 30 minute scoreless streak for the Knights with her second tally of the day in the 43rd minute to give St. Andrews the lead for good. Sophomore Kelsey Binggeli (Newark, N.Y.) extended the lead to two, 5-3, by finishing off a nice feed from Whitbeck.

The Blue Hose pulled back to within one on a junior Shannon Strodel (Duluth, Ga.) goal in the 47 th minute but Binggeli countered with the eventual game-winner to double-up the Knights lead. A sophomore Trista Sturdivant (Street, Md.) unassisted goal once again pulled the visitors to within one but it would be as close as they would get.

Freshman Kerrie Brown (Rochester, N.Y.) won the ensuing draw control for St. Andrews and then connected on a long pass that set up a fast break score by Wright just 12 seconds after the final PC goal. The Knights pulled away in the final minutes with Binggeli completing the hat trick with exactly four minutes left and Wright scoring her game-high fourth goal in the final minute.

Sophomore Jitase Hall (Newark, N.Y.) finished with two helpers for SAPC.

Presbyterian held a 32-23 shot advantage but sophomore goalkeeper Eryn McCaffrey (Cicero, N.Y.) made 18 saves to lead the Knights to the victory. McCaffrey (3-3) made 12 second half stops while also holding the Blue Hose to just two free position goals on 10 shots making seven saves on the uncontested shots.

Both teams won eight face offs while PC had a slim 32-25 advantage on groundballs and SAPC was held without a free-position shot attempt.

St. Andrews will host CVAC foe and No. 7 nationally ranked Pfeiffer University on Tuesday at 4:00 p.m.