Mahwah, NJ: After falling behind 9-3 at the half, the Ramapo College women's lacrosse team strung together nine 2nd half goals in a last minute push to earn their first victory of the 2009 season. Ramapo fell short by a slim 15-12 to the Owls of Westfield State College to fall to 0-3 overall. Westfield earns their second win of the year to improve to 2-0.
Rookie
Colleen Steel (Wyckoff, NJ) gave the Roadrunners a quick 1-0 edge just under one minute into the game, but Westfield fired back with three straight goals, two from Laura Chiricosta (Lexington, Mass), spilt by a goal from Rachel Costa (Reading, Mass), to take a 3-1 lead with 20 minutes to play in the half.
Jessica Long (Wayne, NJ) ripped a shot past the Owl netminder to close the gap, 3-2, but again Westfield fired back stringing together five more goals to go up 8-2. Ally Brown (Andover, Mass) added a goal of her own while Costa and Chiricosta each put away two.
Brittany Gazzanigo (Millstone Twp., NJ) chipped in a goal before the first half horn and Chiricosta snuck in her fifth of the game at the horn to head into intermission on top of Ramapo, 9-3.
With 20 minutes to play, and Westfield leading 13-5, the Roadrunners took control of the game netting seven straight goals to come within one, 13-12, with five minutes to go in the game. Steel sparked the run and
Christina Cigolini (Ridgewood, NJ) chipped in three goals, while
Jenn Pfarr (Cranford, NJ), Steel, and Gazzanigo rounded out the run for Ramapo. Westfield found a last minute offensive spark to take the game, 15-12 from Ramapo.
Kaity Burns (Wilbraham, Mass) made six saves for Westfield while
Diana Silva (Howell, NJ) and
Megan Tierney (Wayne, NJ) split time for Ramapo recording 12 saves in the game.
The Roadrunners return to action on March 24th when they take on SUNY New Paltz at home at 4:00 PM.