Albany, NY – Freshman midfielder Stephanie Martin scored five goals and assisted on three others to lead the Elmira College women's lacrosse team to an 18-9 Empire 8 victory over The Sage Colleges at ACP Field Saturday afternoon. The Soaring Eagles won for the first time in nine games this season (1-8) are 1-2 in the Empire 8, while the Gators now are 2-5 and 1-2 in league play.
Mikayla Carfello also scored five goals while Rachael Goetz had four and Jena Gatto scored three times. Kate Gibson scored an added an assist and Goetz and Macy Huntley each had one assist for Elmira. Krystyna Lilland made eight saves in the Elmira net.
Junior attack Anne Risler (Albany, NY/Academy of the Holy Names), junior midfielder Brittany Gage (Pine Bush, NY/Pine Bush) and sophomore attack Sophia Pierce (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) scored three goals each for the Gators. Gate, Risler and sophomore attack Alex Franco (Ballston Spa, NY/Ballston Spa) had one assist each. Risler, who ranks seventh in career goals at Sage, is one goal away from becoming just the seventh player in program history to record 50 goals. She also ranks seventh in career points with a total of 57. Sophomore Marina Azab (Niskayuna, NY/Niskayuna) made 13 saves during nearly 50 minutes of action in the Sage net while sophomore Carly Plaisance (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) stopped two in just over 10 minutes of play.
Elmira outshot Sage, 38-27, and had a slim 28-23 ground ball advantage. The Soaring Eagles had 14 successful clears in 23 attempts and Sage won 15 of the 29 draw controls.
Elmira took a 2-0 lead but Gage made it 2-1 4:35 into the first half. The Soaring Eagles then scored five straight and seven of the next nine for a 9-2 lead. Pierce and Gage scored in the final minute to pull the Gators to within five at 9-4 by halftime, the closest the hosts would come. Elmira scored nine of the 14 second half scores.
Sage plays Wednesday, April 3 at SUNY Polytechnic at 4 p.m. Elmira is back in action tomorrow, hosting Cazenovia at 2 p.m. at the Ernie Davis Complex in Elmira.