Sacred Heart Women Win NEC Regular Season
from press release
FAIRFIELD, Conn. - The Sacred Heart University
women's lacrosse team won the 2010 Northeast Conference regular
season championship with a 9-5 victory over Quinnipiac on Campus
Field, Saturday evening. The Pioneers completed a perfect 9-0
season in the conference and earned the right to host the NEC
Tournament next weekend.
Sacred Heart grabbed its first lead of the game, at 5-4, with 6:02
remaining when sophomore Kate Kmiotek (Farmingville, N.Y.) tallied
her third score of the night. The Bobcats came right back a
minute later to tie the game on sophomore Devon Gibney's second of
the contest. With 3:47 to go, senior midfielder Cori Horelik
(South Windsor, Conn.) scored on a free position shot to put the
Pioneers ahead for good. SHU would go on to add three more
scores and put the game out of reach.
In the first half, Kmiotek got the Pioneers on the board first when
she intercepted a pass on a clear attempt by QU. She
immediately took the ball to the net and scored. The rest of
the half was all Bobcats, as they outscored SHU 3-0 to take a 3-1
advantage at halftime.
The Pioneers cut the lead to one early on Kmiotek's second of the
game. Six minutes later Quinnipiac senior Brittany Hauser
marched up the center of the field and put her team back up by two
with her first score of the year. Horelik recorded her first
two scores of the game within a two minute span midway through the
frame, to knot the game at four.
Tied at five, senior Carissa Hauser (East Northport, N.Y.) eluded
her defender and appeared to give Sacred Heart the lead with 4:01
remaining, but the ball ricocheted off the post. Just seconds
later Horelik found the back of the net with the game winner.
Her fourth goals, and 28th of the season, was also a free position
opportunity.
Sophomore Alyssa Dorsey (Massapequa, N.Y.) was the only other
Pioneer, besides Horelik and Kmiotek, to score. Hauser picked
up a pair of assists and collected four draw controls.
Senior netminder Chelsea Wagner (Aurora, Col.) made nine saves to
record the win for Sacred Heart. In the cage for Quinnipiac,
junior Lexi DeStefano stopped three shots.
The Bobcats outshot the Pioneers 21-20 for the game. SHU
grabbed 16 ground balls, while QU collected 10.
The win also extended the Pioneers record long win streak to 10
games. This is Sacred Heart third straight NEC regular season
title, but first outright. It is also the second straight
year that the Pioneers have claimed the top seed and will host the
Northeast Conference Women's Lacrosse Tournament.
The tournament gets underway next Friday on Campus Field.
Both semifinal games will be played then, with the championship
bout slated for Sunday. Game times are yet to be determined.
