HOBOKEN, NJ – Senior captain Leah Wasserman scored six goals to lead the #9 Stevens Institute of Technology women's lacrosse team to a 15-10 victory over 12th-ranked Tufts University on Monday at the De Baun Athletic Complex. The Ducks, now 3-1 to start the season, outscored Tufts 10-2 in the first 30 minutes, and the Jumbos were never able to get closer than five goals the rest of the way.
The first half went the Ducks' way, as they controlled the action from the opening draw. Stevens went into the locker room with a 10-2 lead on the scoreboard, a 16-8 edge in shots, an 11-6 advantage in ground balls and a 4 for 7 conversion rate on free position shots. The Ducks also won 9 of 13 draw controls in the first period.
Wasserman scored her first goal of the game on a free-position attempt 1:47 into the action. After the Jumbos knotted the game at one-all exactly four minutes later, Stevens ran off seven straight tallies to open up an 8-1 lead. Junior Jenna Scheibling recorded an unassisted marker 29 ticks after the Tufts goal, and 27 seconds later senior midfielder Christine Smith notched a score on a free-position attempt. Wasserman and sophomore Joey Galligan scored the next two goals thanks to helpers out of senior captain Pamela Loria's stick to put the Ducks up 5-1.
First year midfielder Kara Rafferty and Wasserman converted free-position attempts into goals to put Stevens on top 7-1, while sophomore Spencer Waybright tallied her sixth goal in the last two games at the 10:24 mark.
Tufts first year Eliza Halmo (Suffern, NY) trimmed the lead to six, but Galligan and Wasserman tallied the last two of the half to send the Ducks into the break with an eight-goal lead.
Stevens pushed its lead to 10, tallying four of the second half's first six goals thanks to two each from Smith and Wasserman. From that point on, the Jumbos scored five straight times to trim the lead to five at 14-9 with 8:27 on the clock. Sophomore Mary Kate Gorman (Hingham, MA) recorded four goals in the run, but it was too little too late as Scheibling halted the spurt to make it 15-9 and end any real chance at a Tufts win.
Tufts ended the game with a 27-26 edge in shots, but Stevens was able to turn 57.7 percent of its attempts into goals and really maintained possession for much of the game. Stevens controlled 17 of 27 draw controls and was 6 for 11 on free-position attempts, while the Jumbos were just 3 for 9.
Sophomore Meg Collins earned the win in goal for Stevens, making four saves. She played the first 44:55 of the game and allowed just four goals. Leading the defense was senior Kate Cox, who had five ground balls and a caused turnover, and junior Ashley Carey with two ground balls, three draw controls, and a caused turnover. Sophomore Teegan Kelly was solid with two caused turnovers and a ground ball.
Wasserman had six goals, one ground ball, and three draw controls, while Smith tallied three times, handed out one helper, recorded four draw controls and scooped up two ground balls. Waybright had a goal, an assist, four draw controls and two ground balls, while Scheibling tallied twice and notched one assist. Loria handed out a game-high three assists and had one draw control, and Galligan finished with two goals, two ground balls, and two caused turnovers in a solid performance.
Gorman led the Jumbos (1-2) with four goals, while junior Stephanie Perez (East Providence, RI) had two goals, three draw controls, four caused turnovers and five ground balls.
The Jumbos, on a spring break trip, move on to play at Haverford on Wednesday at 4 pm. Stevens will also return to action on Wednesday at 4 pm when it takes on Drew University at the De Baun Athletic Complex.
Game Box Score
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Game release courtesy of Stevens Institute of Technology
