Early Struggles Haunt Pacers in 15-7 loss to Cabrini
Katrina Kelly sparked the Pacers' first half comeback with three goals

Early Struggles Haunt Pacers in 15-7 loss to Cabrini

Women's Lacrosse - 3/19/2016 9:53:00 PM

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Scranton, PA – Marywood University suffered its first Colonial States Athletic Conference women's lacrosse loss of the season with a 15-7 loss Saturday to defending champion Cabrini College. The Pacers made a run late in the first half to cut the deficit to three before the Cavaliers scored the first eight of the second half.

Ashley Valway had a hand in five of the seven goals with three goals and two assists. Katrina Kelly supplied a hat trick. Sam Bussinelli provided the other goal for the Pacers.

Defensively, Faith Grieshaber picked up five ground balls and caused three turnovers. Michaela DiLorenzo, Natalie Burke and Caitlin Watson each had three caused turnovers. Watson and Burke won four draw controls.

Lauren Smith took the loss with 12 saves.

The two-headed monster of Allie Vallen and Jackie Neary netted four goals apiece for the Cavaliers. Mo O'Connell engineered five caused turnovers and four ground balls.

With a pre-game stick-check violation putting the Cavaliers down one player to start the game, Neary set the wheels in motion with a woman-down goal 1:40 into the contest. Neary and Vallen combined three goals in a 74-second span to put the Cavaliers ahead four before 10 minutes elapsed. By the time the damage was done, Cabrini started the CSAC battle with six unanswered goals in the first 15 minutes.

Kelly ended the drought with a woman-up goal from Valway with 6:19 remaining. After Vallen responded 41 seconds later, Marywood had a three-goal run to close out the half. Kelly and Valway teamed up again with a behind-the-net goal with 34 seconds left. With nine seconds left, Valway intercepted a pass and ran the field to slice the Cavaliers' lead to 7-4 at the break.

Cabrini's halftime game plan worked with eight-straight goals to (briefly) institute the running clock. Sasha Wozniak and Neary both scored within the first 50 seconds of the second half. Marywood finished with the final three goals of the game.  

The Cavaliers' defense held Marywood scoreless in the first 23 minutes of each half. All seven Marywood goals came with 6:40 left in their respective halves.

Marywood (1-5, 1-2 CSAC) battled after early troubles at the draw control by making it a respectable 14-10 Cabrini advantage. The Cavaliers were successful on half (8 of 16) free-position shots. Cabrini doubled the Pacers in shots (36-18) and dominated ground balls by a 36-25 margin.

The Forest Green and Gold wrap up a two-game stretch against the league's toughest opponents when they travel to Neumann University Wednesday at 4:00 pm. 
 
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