Women's Lacrosse Unloads in Win over Griffins
Sam Bussinelli scored five goals for a team-best 24 on the season

Women's Lacrosse Unloads in Win over Griffins

Women's Lacrosse - 4/9/2015 6:03:00 PM

Box Score Box Score

Scranton, PA - Sam Bussinelli scored five goals to lift Marywood University to a 15-3 victory over Gwynedd Mercy University Thursday in Colonial States Athletics Conference women's action. The Pacers (7-4) remain undefeated in CSAC play through games and sit atop of the conference standings tied with Cabrini College. 

Dana Grossjung tacked on a goal and three assists for four points. Amanda Khozouri had her third consecutive two-goal outing. Stacy Griffing also scored a pair of goals. Four of Bussinelli's goals came in the second period to give her a team-best 24 goals on the year.

Defensively, the Pacers' improve their Top 10 national ranking with 19 combined caused turnovers. Natalie Burke registered five caused turnovers, five ground balls and four draw controls. Mary Ninivaggi tabbed three ground balls and three caused turnovers. In addition to her four points, Grossjung posted five ground balls, five draw controls and three caused turnovers. 

Lauren Smith made seven saves for her seventh victory of the season. 

After starting the season with three straight losses, Marywood has won seven of its past eight games.

Gwynedd Mercy took an early lead when Danae Perrymond scored the game's first goal 2:22 into regulation on a free-position shot. Once the Pacers composed themselves, the Pacers went on to score six consecutive goals and hold the Griffins scoreless for nearly 35 minutes. Held scoreless for 7:30, the Pacers evened the contest when Griffing one-timed a Grossjung pass for goal. 

Ninivaggi scooped a ground ball, from a Burke-caused turnover, and raced 30 yards toward the Griffins' goal. She swirled around the net and slingshotted her third goal of the season to put the Pacers ahead by a 2-1 score at the 20:30 mark. Ninivaggi's goal ignited the Pacer offense. Thirty-two seconds later, Grossjung and Khozouri connected for a score. Less than a minute later, Bussinelli telegraphed an Erin Healy pass into the goal to extend the Pacers' lead to 4-1. Marywood led 6-1 at the end of the first half. 

Perrymond started the second half just like she did the first with a Gwynedd Mercy goal to end the drought and cut the deficit to four (6-2). Marywood responded with three goals in a two-minute span. Marywood's success on the draw yielded a Griffing-from-Grossjung goal a mere 17 seconds following Bussinelli's second of the game. The Pacers finished the game by scoring the final six goals, including free-position scores by Katrina Kelly and Tiffany Brzenk. 

Marywood out-shot the Griffins by a 30-13 margin. The Pacers eked out a 25-23 ground ball advantage and won 75 percent (15 of 20) draw controls. 

Perrymond tallied two of the three Griffin goals. Kelsey Yori dominated defensively with six caused turnovers and five ground balls. Bria Gillard took the loss with 11 saves. 

Marywood hosts a key CSAC match-up with Neumann University Saturday at 1:00 pm. Fans are encouraged to wear green for a "Green Out" game. The Pacers narrowly fell to the Knights 8-7 in the regular season. They saw their season come to a close 12-5 to the Knights in a bizarre two-day CSAC semifinal that saw the monsoon-like conditions suspend the game before, days later, another storm forced the game to take 3:30 to finish. 
Print Friendly Version