No. 1 Women's Lacrosse Turns Away Mercy, 16-3
Box Score
DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (April 3, 2013) – Senior attacker
Ashley Olen (East Islip, N.Y.) scored a season-high seven goals while fellow senior
Abbie Ross (Miller Place, N.Y.) notched a hat trick in leading the top-ranked LIU Post women's lacrosse team to a 16-3 victory over Mercy College on Wednesday afternoon.
The Pioneers remain perfect at 8-0 on the season and 2-0 in conference action, while Mercy dips to 5-3 overall and 1-2 in ECC play.
It took the visitors until 17:53 in the first to register their first goal, as Mercy retained possession for the first ten minutes of play, but Olen got the Pioneers on the board on a
Morgan Chiarenza (Nesconset, N.Y.) assist, and followed with another goal at 13:26. Junior
Katie Rotan (West Islip, N.Y.) notched an unassisted marker at 11:24, and after a Mercy score at the 11 minute mark, Olen scored at 5:32 and Ross at 4:29 to give the Pioneers a 5-1 lead at halftime.
The second half was a much higher scoring stanza, as Olen again kick started the offense with an unassisted tally at 26:33. After Mercy's second score of the day, the Pioneers ran off three straight – by Olen, Ross and Rotan – to stretch the lead to 9-2. The Mavericks would score just once more on the afternoon, at 17:00, before the Pioneers clamped down and shut them out for the remainder of the contest, scoring seven unanswered to close out the contest.
Olen's seven and Ross's three goals accounted for over half of the Pioneer offense, along with Chiarenza's career-high five assists. Rotan and junior
Samantha Losco (Smithtown, N.Y.) each registered two goals and an assist, while sophomore
Jenna Pierro (Holbrook, N.Y.) tallied one goal and one helper.
In goal, senior
Dominique Mosca (Merrick, N.Y.) totaled eight saves in earning her sixth win of the season. The Pioneers had a 27-13 shot differential and picked up 16 ground balls to 11 for the Mavericks. They also completed 13-14 clear attempts and won nine draw controls, forcing 17 Mercy turnovers while committing only eight of their own.
Next on the slate for the Pioneers is a home contest against Merrimack at the Town of Oyster Bay's Battle at Bethpage III, held on Saturday at 10 a.m. at Bethpage High School. It is part of a doubleheader that will feature St. Johns men's lacrosse taking on Georgetown at 2 p.m. Proceeds go to the Bethpage Educational Foundation.