Women's Lax Falls to Quinnipiac 15-7

Senior captain Stephanie John scored two goals and added an assist, but the Central Connecticut women's lacrosse team was upended by Quinnipiac 15-7 on Tuesday afternoon. Despite an even six to six second half and 16 saves from senior captain Alice Lee, the Blue Devils fell to 0-5 and lost their first Northeast Conference game. The Bobcats improve to 2-1 and 1-0 in the NEC.

After John scored CCSU's first goal to make it 3-1 with 19:55 remaining in the first period, Quinnipiac scored the next six goals to go up 9-1 at the half. Nicole Fiore scored her second and third goals of the game at the 17:31 and 16:03 minute marks to help spark the Bobcat rally. Kelly Bruneau and Christine Sinnigen each tallied a goal and an assist in the run with Sinnigen scoring on a Bruneau assist with 1:19 remaining to give QU an eight point lead heading into the locker rooms.

The Bobcats forced CCSU into 18 turnovers in the opening period, which led to 15 ground balls and 24 shots for Quinnipiac. The Blue Devils finished the first half with only eight shots and six ground balls. Lee, facing a barrage of shots, stopped 11 in the first half.

Central Connecticut came out ready to play in the second half and cut the lead to 9-3 after two goals by sophomore Cara Momnie. The draw control specialist, who led the Blue Devils with three in the game, scored 50 seconds into the second frame on a free position shot. She followed that up with another goal five minutes later on an assist from John.

Quinnipiac countered Momnie's run with a three goal stretch of their own with goals from Katie Latonick, Jennifer Skipper and Fiore. Skipper and Fiore assisted each other on the goals and pushed the Bobcat lead to 12-3. Back and forth action ensued with Michele Conway, Ashley Perkoski, Kacey Bisienere and John tallying goals in the final 17 minutes.

John, Momnie and Perkoski each picked up three ground balls for the Blue Devils, while Momnie led the way on defense with three caused turnovers. Lee finished the afternoon with 16 saves, a groundball and two caused turnovers.

The two teams were pretty even in second half play with the six goals each on 19 shots from CCSU and 13 from Quinnipiac. The Blue Devils forced 11 turnovers out of QU, while Central only committed seven in the second frame of play. The Bobcats held a 12-11 groundball advantage in the second half and recorded eight draw controls, to CCSU's five.

Fiore finished with a game high four goals, while collecting three draw controls and two caused turnovers. Sinnegen also had five points for the Bobcats, recording two goals and three assists. Tiffany Manzi added three goals, four ground balls, five draw controls and three caused turnovers to lead Quinnipiac. Hannah Nelson tallied four saves for QU in the first half, while Noelle Martello finished with 12 in the second half.

Central Connecticut will next play host to Detroit Mercy on Wednesday March 18 at 7:00 p.m. This Friday, March 13, Quinnipiac will travel to Iona to take on the Gaels at 3:00 p.m.