Pacers' Rally Runs Out of Time in ECAC First Round
Marywood nearly capped off a five-goal comeback in the ECAC playoffs

Pacers' Rally Runs Out of Time in ECAC First Round

Women's Lacrosse - 5/10/2017 11:16:00 PM

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Scranton, Pa. – It took Marywood University 22 minutes to shake off last week's gut-wrenching loss in the CSAC finals. Trailing five-nil with just one shot on goal as the minutes ticked to single digits, the Pacers rallied back but fell short in a 13-12 loss to Marymount University Wednesday in the Eastern Colleges Athletic Conference Division III women's lacrosse first round.

The fourth-seeded Pacers' first trip to the ECAC playoffs in five seasons was on a course for a running clock before outscoring the No. 5 Saints 12-8 for the final two-thirds of the game. Marywood had a 9-7 advantage in the second half.

Katrina Kelly fired a free-position goal with 2:39 remaining to trim the once five-goal deficit to one. Marymount's Jessica Crew won the draw control. The Saints' plans to run out the clock were foiled by Lauren Smith leaving her position to provide pressure in the defensive end and a ground ball pick up by Michaela DiLorenzo with 43 seconds left. Marywood failed its clear attempt on an errant pass corralled by Alex Delgado that sealed Marymount's trip to the ECAC semifinals.

Marymount advances to face top-seeded Stockton University in the semifinals. The Pacers lost to three of the four semifinalists (Marymount, Misericordia, Arcadia) by a combined seven goals.

Gwyneth Gleason led the Pacers with four goals and five draw controls. Ashley Valway finished her season with a hat trick to give her the team-best 51 goals and put her into a tie for the most points (71).

Natalie Burke wrapped her career with four ground balls, three caused turnovers and two points. Burke finishes as the school's all-time record holder in caused turnovers (116) and assists (70). She finished her season tied for the fourth-most ground balls (69), fourth-most caused turnovers (35), and fifth-most assists (22).

Fellow senior Lauren Smith made 11 saves to finish out her career. Her season goals-against average of 7.32 breaks the school record by nearly three goals per game. Smith made her 600th career save to finish 10 shy of the career record. She also smashed the single-season save percentage record by keeping away 54.3 percent of shots.

Sam Bussinelli made two assists to tie Gleason for the second-most assists (24) in a single season. Kelly provided a pair of key goals.

Freshman Zoe Simeone had a career day with two goals and an assist.

Marywood struggled mightily offensively in the first 20 minutes. Marymount held possession nearly the entire duration as its lead grew to 5-0 on a Kelly Campbell goal with 12:25 left in the half. The Pacers' Simeone manufactured a free-position attempt that she fed to Valway at the far post to put Marywood's first points on the board at 8:47.

Valway's goal helped the Pacers find their sea legs. Shortly after, Simeone found the net on a FPS shot. Gleason trimmed the deficit to two with an FPS goal of her own with 2:47 left. Eliana Cassel netted a Saints' tally with a minute left to go into the break by doubling up the Pacers by a 6-3 margin.

Much to the chagrin of eager Forest Green and Gold supporters, neither team found a huge momentum swing in the second half. Valway kicked things off with an unassisted goal at 27:52. Marymount tacked on a pair to extend the lead to 8-4 with 25:15 left. Scoring continued to come in droves with Gleason one-hopping a shot into net a mere 63 seconds later.

Following Jessica Crew's third goal of the game for the Saints, Gleason and Valway added Marywood goals that put the Pacers within two goals (9-7) with 19:12 left. Bridgette Stacom utilized her footwork to tack on two more Saints goals within a 1:08 span. Soon enough, Bussinelli came out of a scrum with a ground ball and dished it out to Gleason for a goal. Kelly one-timed a Burke pass to again bring Marywood within two at 11-9 with 9:27 remaining.

Kellen Cannon seemed to put the game away with two goals that doubled the lead to four with 6:40 on the board. Marywood closed out the contest with three straight. Burke rifled a shot from 15 yards out 22 seconds after Cannon's netter. Simeone bagged another FPS shot with 3:28 left.

Marymount received career highs from Liah Agouras who had career highs of eight ground balls and six caused turnovers.

Holly Reik was victorious with 10 saves, including several on short-ranged Bussinelli shots.

Both Marymount and Marywood each had 25 shots. The Saints won the ground balls by a 22-18 margin and draw controls by a 15-12 edge. Transitions proved to be the difference maker. Marywood was 17 of 26, compared to the Saints' 14 of 15 mark. The Pacers were 5 of 10 on free position shots.
 
 
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