Box Score

The Sacred Heart University women's lacrosse team dropped its 2015 home opener to Iona College, 15-5 on Campus Field Wednesday afternoon.  The loss drops the Pioneers to 0-2 on the season while the Gaels improve to 1-0 on the year.

The Gaels struck 1:41 into the game when Casey Palmer fed Erin Pugh, for her first of a game-high four goals.  Pugh scored again 1:38 later to make it 2-0 in the favor of Iona, which opened the game with five unanswered goals.

Pioneer rookie Averi Farhat (Hollis, N.H.) scored her first collegiate goal, unassisted with 9:58 to play before the half, to put SHU on the board. The Gaels answered with a Pamela Giordano goal with 7:51 to play in the first-half for the 6-1 edge.  Another SHU rookie, Erin Coutts (Hampstead, N.H.) netted her first career goal, from a Paige DeVine (Farmingdale, N.Y.) pass with 4:35 to play, to cut the deficit to four, 6-2, but Pugh answered with 13 ticks left to send Iona to the intermission leading 7-2.

Iona scored the first five goals of the second-half, all in the first 9:35 of action, to build a 12-2 advantage. DeVine ended the Gael run 61 seconds later, scoring a pass from Caitlin Delaney (Cherry Hill, N.J.). After an Iona tally at the 14:32 mark, Kylie Calandra (Washington Township, N.J.) scored unassisted with 11:23 to play to make the score 13-4, before Iona tallies with 6:59 and 1:55 remaining pushed the lead to 15-4.  Jenna Liljeberg (Wrentham, Mass.) tallied a free position goal with 49 ticks remaining to wrap-up the scoring.

Katie Keenan (Wantagh, N.Y.) started in goal for the Pioneers and took the loss, allowing six goals in 22:09 of action, and making one save.  Paige Hammick (Avon, Conn.) made five saves, against nine goals allowed in her 37:51 of action in cage. Blaire Nathanson played the entire game in net for Iona, making five saves.

Sacred Heart finished with a 12-9 advantage in draw controls, while Iona had a 17-16 edge in ground balls. Delaney led the Pioneers with five ground balls, while Jesslyn Joseph (Bolton, Mass.) had a team-best four draw controls. Six different Pioneers caused a turnover in the contest.

Iona was led by the four goals of Pugh, who also had a pair of ground balls and two draw controls. Giordano netted three goals and had an assist for the Gaels, who cause d10 turnovers on the afternoon.

Sacred Heart is back in action on Saturday, February 21, when it hosts Holy Cross at 1 p.m. on Campus Field.