WATERS, MARCHAND LEAD SAINTS TO

16-15 VICTORY OVER ROCHESTER

Apr. 5: Senior attack and co-captain Alanna Waters tied a St. Lawrence record for the second time this season and first-year goalie Anna Marchand had one of the best games of her collegiate career to help the women’s lacrosse team to an exciting 16-15 victory over conference opponent Rochester Saturday afternoon on North Country Field.

St. Lawrence, who is now 7-3 overall, picked up their second Liberty League win of the season, giving them a 2-2 record, while Rochester suffered its first conference loss of their 2008 campaign, falling to 2-5 overall and 1-1 in the league.

Waters (Darien, CT/Taft) had six assists, tying both her career-high previously set this season against Mt. Holyoke and the St. Lawrence single game record, further embedding her name in the Saints’ record books. The attack also had two goals in the contest, giving her a game-high eight points.

In addition to Waters, Saints’ scoring included goals from junior Amanda Forbes (Glens Falls, NY/Glens Falls) with four, first-year Kaitlyn Fahsel (Watertown, NY/South Jefferson), sophomores Lexi Wisnowski (Middlebury, VT/Middlebury Union) and Julie Wooters (New Canaan, CT/New Canaan), with two each, while sophomore Katrina Knickerbocker (Clinton Corners, NY/The Gunnery) and first-years Kim Morse (Peaks Island, ME/Yarmouth Academy), Kelsey Redpath (Norwich, VT/Hanover) and Bianca Chevallard (Miami, FL/St. George’s) each tallied a goal a piece. Fahsel and senior-co captain Liz Skinner ( Liverpool, NY/ Liverpool) both added an assist.

Neither team could find a way to break down their opponent’s defense in the opening 20 minutes of the game, with the only exception coming from Rochester’s Allyson Hogan, who tallied the first goal 9:45 into the contest, giving the Yellowjackets a 1-0 edge. A scoreless ten minutes ensued before Skinner fed the ball to Fahsel, who shot the ball low into the net to tie the game at 1-1 with 10:34 left in the half.

Waters’ impressive offense lifted St. Lawrence in the final ten minutes of the period, as she supplied the Scarlet and Brown with a goal and four assists in just six minutes to aid a crucial 6-0 Saint run to give the home team a five goal lead before Rochester’s Mary Kate Hannan found the net and put the ball past Marchand (Concord, MA/Middlesex) to close out the low-scoring half with a 6-2 St. Lawrence lead.

The Saints jumped out to and 8-2 advantage, their biggest lead of the contest, after goals from Wooters and Frobes in the opening of the second half, but a fiery Yellowjacket squad came back from the six-point deficit and made improvements on both ends of the field to score 13 goals and keep St. Lawrence to scoring only 10 in the final 30 minutes of play. Rochester tied things up after Lindsay Dakin scored with 4:56 left to play in and each team scored a goal within the next two minutes to keep it close with 2:45 still to go in regulation.

Marchand made two critical saves in those final minutes, while Wisnowski picked up a ground ball following a failed Yellowjacket shot to give St. Lawrence possession with 50 seconds remaining to give the home team one last chance to win the contest. Fahsel got control of the ball and passed it back to Wisnowski, who beat her defenders and shot it high into the net for the game-winning goal with only 32 seconds remaining, giving the Scarlet and Brown the 16-15 win.

“I felt our transitions were outstanding,” Saints’ head coach Jodi Canfield said. “We were able to spread the ball out, work it around and then take advantage of things we saw in their defense. We shot better, and despite having one of our middies out of the rotation after receiving two yellow cards, the other players had to pick up the pace a little bit, and did a great job in doing so.”

Marchand's outstanding goaltending in Saturday's contest included a career-high 15 saves, while Leslie Dube had five for the Yellowjackets.

“Anna came up big when we needed her to come up big,” Canfield said. “She’s been a clutch goalie for us in these close games.”

Rochester out-shot the Saints 36-29 and caused half of the home team’s 16 turnovers. The Saints held what turned out to be an essential 17-15 draw control advantage, and was 5-for-7 from the eight-meter.

St. Lawrence will travel to Oswego, NY on Friday, April 11, to make up a game against the Oswego Lakers that was postponed due to weather in early March. Game time is scheduled for 4:00pm.