Women’s Lacrosse Wins Home Opener Against Pace

The fourth ranked women’s lacrosse team started its 2017 season off strong by winning its first game of the season against 20th ranked Pace University 15-8 on Feb. 25.

The Pioneers held a 3-point lead going into the second half, but the Setters were able to score three unanswered goals to tie the game at seven points with less than 18 minutes left to play. The home team quickly responded with a burst of six unanswered goals to take a commanding lead of 13-7 with three minutes left on the clock. The Pioneers only allowed one more goal from the Setters, and ended the game seven points ahead to win their first game of the season.

“We’ve been waiting for this day for so long,” head coach Meghan McNamara said after the game. “Playing against a great team like Pace and challenging us like that just really kind of put things in perspective of how capable we are.”

Sophomore mid fielder Ryan McKinney scored a career-high six goals for the Pioneers, two of which came during the six goal burst toward the end of the second half. Senior attackers Connor Bird and Stefani Vagelatos, each tallied four points, and junior goalie Olivia Kirk was able to stop eight attempts by the Setters.

The Pioneers only had nine turnovers during the game compared to the Setters’ 12, two of which were caused by Pioneer defender Cara Douglas. The home team also outshot the Setters 33-17.

Coach McNamara said her team looked very strong and confident, and she hopes they will continue to create and control an upbeat tempo on both ends of the field. “I think our transition game was great, but we have to work on some little tweaks on the defensive and offensive side,” McNamara said.

Coach McNamara and the Pioneers return to action March 1 against Nyack College in Nyack, NY at 7 pm.