By Anthony Caruso
and from Press Releases
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/24/15
The nationally second-ranked Cortland women’s lacrosse team built and 8-2 lead at the half and continued to stretch its lead throughout the game as it earned a 17-6 win versus top-ranked Trinity College Sunday afternoon in the championship game of the 2015 NCAA Div. III Women’s Lacrosse Tournament at PPL Park in Chester, Pa. The Red Dragons won their 19th straight game, tied the school record of 22 wins and completed a 22-1 season in capturing their first-ever NCAA Div. III title.
Sophomore Kristen Ohberg (Brewster) and freshman Hannah Elmer (Syracuse/West Genesee) led the Cortland offense with four goals and one assist each. Junior Tara Monaghan (Stony Point/North Rockland) scored three times, senior Emma Hayes-Hurley (Huntington) recorded two goals and two assists, senior Marilyn Farrell (Fayetteville/Fayetteville-Manlius) tallied two goals and one assist and junior Nicole Bello (Camillus/West Genesee) netted two goals.
Sophomore goalie Jaclyn Beshlian (Wantagh) turned aside eight shots in running her record to 19-0 on the season. Monaghan secured nine draw controls and collected four ground balls, Hayes-Hurley won three draws and Bello caused two turnovers.
Junior Martha Griffin (Exeter, NH/Phillips Exeter Academy) led the Bantams (21-2) with three goals. Sophomore Clare Lyne (Concord, MA/Middlesex) registered two goals and one assist, senior Caroline Hayes (Greenland, NH/Phillips Exeter Academy) contributed one goal and one assist and sophomore Nicole Stauffer (Cheshire, CT) chipped in with one assist.
Kathryn DeLillio, a starting sophomore defender from Tower Hill, Del., had one groundball for Trinity.
Freshman goalie Zoe Ferguson (Ridgewood, NJ) made two saves in the first half before giving way to junior Emily Mooney (New York/Kent (CT)), who stopped seven shots in the second half.
Hayes-Hurley opened the scoring with a free-position goal at 27:28 after Beshlian made a save on Griffin. Elmer made it a 2-0 game with an unassisted goal at 27:10. Hayes put the Bantams on the scoreboard with a goal from the free position at 21:49. After Trinity held Cortland scoreless while down a player for two minutes, Monaghan gave the Red Dragons a 3-1 lead with a spinning shot just above the crease prompting a Trinity timeout.
Ohberg increased the advantage to 4-1 with a goal from the free position at 11:37, then netted her second of the game on an unassisted effort at 9:03 and the Red Dragons led 5-1. Three minutes later, Beshlian denied a low shot by freshman Allie Barrett (Concord, MA) on the free position. The Red Dragons quickly worked a clear and Ohberg tallied her third goal of the game to push the lead to 6-1.
Griffin ended Cortland’s run with her 80th goal of the season off an assist from Lyne at 4:36 to cut the Bantams’ deficit to 6-2. Moments later, Beshlian made another big save on a free-position shot, and Farrell quick-sticked a goal from the right side off an assist from Elmer, who was at the free position, with 16 seconds left in the half. The Red Dragons won the following draw control and earned another free position with six seconds remaining. Hayes-Hurley dumped a pass to Farrell who beat Ferguson for her second goal in 12 seconds to give Cortland an 8-2 lead at the break.
Ohberg’s fourth goal of the game at 28:59 opened the second-half scoring, but Griffin connected from the free position at 24:07 and Lyne scored off a feed by Hayes at 20:59 to cut the deficit to 9-4 leading to a Cortland timeout. The Red Dragons secured the next draw, Hayes-Hurley assisted on Monaghan’s second goal of the game at 18:13 and Monaghan followed with an unassisted goal at 13:24 for an 11-4 Cortland lead.
The Bantams quickly responded after winning the next draw as Stauffer assisted Lyne’s goal just 30 seconds later, but Elmer netted a goal from Ohberg’s assist at 9:03 and Bello scored from the free position at 7:46 and added an unassisted goal at 6:57 to push Cortland’s lead to 14-5. Griffin’s third goal of the game at 6:25 briefly stopped the momentum, but the Red Dragons closed the game with the final three goals to seal the win. Hayes-Hurley scored at 4:59, and Elmer notched goals at 1:40 and 1:18 for the 17-6 final.
Hayes-Hurley was named the Most Outstanding Player and was joined on the NCAA Div. III Final Four All-Tournament Team by Monaghan, Ohberg, Beshlian and Elmer. Rounding out the All-Tournament Team were Hayes, Lyne and Griffin from Trinity; Laurel Pascal and Alli Sciarretta from Middlebury and Paige Moriarty and Samantha Blicht of Franklin & Marshall.
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