Feb. 28, 2006

Final Stats

Fairfield, Conn. - The Marist women's lacrosse team defeated Sacred Heart, 12-8 in its first game of the season. The Red Foxes move to 1-0 while the Pioneers drop to 0-2. Eight different Marist players scored in the victory, with sophomore midfielder Jessica O'Brien (Wantagh, N.Y.) leading the way with three goals and one assist. Classmate Liz Burkhard (Wantagh, N.Y.) made 10 saves in goal in her first career start.

Today marked Marist's first-ever win over Sacred Heart in eight tries and avenged last season's 17-10 loss to the Pioneers. Five freshmen cracked the starting lineup for Coach Noelle Cebron and four rookies scored their first collegiate goals in the win. Nine different Marist players had a goal or an assist.

O'Brien got to work early for Marist, causing a turnover and converting for a goal at 28:34 to put Marist up 1-0. The Red Foxes soon capitalized on another Pioneer error caused by freshman Jesse Viamari (Longmeadow, Mass.). On the ensuing possession, classmate Carolyn Sumcizk (Syosset, N.Y.) found fellow rookie Megan White (Copiague, N.Y.) to put Marist up 2-0.

Sacred Heart quickly answered with back-to-back goals by Mary Montesarchio to tie the score at 2-2 at 21:34. The Pioneers won the draw after their second goal, but Sumcizk immediately forced a turnover and scored her first collegiate goal at 20:21 to regain the lead for Marist. The Foxes scored two more goals close together with White scoring her second of the day at 14:15 and sophomore Ali Carnabuci (Albertson, N.Y.) connecting off a feed from Cristin Begley (Brookville, Md.) to put the visitors up 5-2.

Katie Salamone scored the Pioneers' last goal of the half at 4:00, but Marist's Stephanie Garland (Long Valley, N.J.) closed out scoring for the half assisted by Megan Frey (Pearl River, N.Y.) to go up 6-3 at the half.

The Red Foxes picked up where they left off in the second, scoring four consecutive goals including one each from Frey and O'Brien. Sophomore Val Amodeo (Northport, N.Y.) tallied back-to-back markers less than three minutes apart during the run to help Marist go up 10-3 at 19:00.

The Pioneers' offense went to work during the next 17 minutes, scoring five unanswered goals including two from Brianna Bubeck to cut Marist's lead to 10-8 at 9:22.

O'Brien and classmate Lindsey Diener (Nanuet, N.Y.) took control late in the game, each scoring a goal in the last minute and a half for Marist. After tallying her third goal of the contest at 1:11, O'Brien assisted on Diener's first of the game with just 14 seconds left on the clock.

O'Brien was the game's leading scorer with three goals and one assist while Amodeo and White each added two. Sumcizk led the Red Foxes with three caused turnovers along with two ground balls, one goal and one assist. 11 different Marist players had at least one ground ball and 11 had caused turnovers in the well-rounded effort.

Marist rookie Kyle Jansky (Bethpage, N.Y.) made her first collegiate appearance in the cage during the game, tallying three saves.

The Red Foxes will be back in action on Sunday March 5 when they host Villanova in their home-opener at 2:00 p.m.