SUNY Cortland women's lacrosse defeats Catholic University

Junior Hannah Elmer led Cortland with four goals (Darl Zehr Photography)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The nationally seventh-ranked Cortland women's lacrosse team broke open a close game with a six-goal second-half run en route to a 13-8 victory over fifth-ranked Catholic University Wednesday afternoon at American University. The Red Dragons improved to 3-1 with the win, while the Cardinals dropped their first game of the year and fell to 3-1.

Junior Hannah Elmer (Syracuse/West Genesee) paced the Cortland offense with four goals. Senior Nicolette Tortorici (Deer Park) netted three goals, and senior Makenzie Annable (Navarino/Onondaga) added two goals and one assist. Senior Kristen Ohberg (Brewster) tallied four points on one goal and three assists, sophomore Carly Stone (Syracuse/Jamesville-DeWitt) and freshman Lexie Meager (Syracuse/West Genesee) each contributed one goal and one assist, freshman Brie Yonge (Penn Yan/Penn Yan Academy) notched a goal and junior Katie Wolfe (East Amherst/Williamsville North) chipped in with an assist.

Senior goalie Jaclyn Beshlian (Wantagh) registered 13 saves for the Red Dragons. Meager won four draw controls, Ohberg scooped up four ground balls and freshman Jordynn Aiello (Centereach/Newfield) caused two turnovers.

Holly Regan led Catholic with two goals and two assists. Clair Schmitzer and Ana Brandenburg each netted a pair of goals. Laura Dunn recorded one goal and one assist, Nicolette Crisalli scored a goal and Julia Clementi and Alexis Bosilovic each added an assist. Goalie Nanci Hernandez made six saves in the first half, and Christina DeCesaris stopped five shots in the second half.

After Schmitzer gave Catholic a 1-0 lead just 1:22 into the game, Cortland answered with four straight scores, two from Tortorici, to grab a 4-1 lead with 2:31 remaining in the half. Regan and Elmer traded goals to close the half with Cortland holding a 5-2 lead.

The Cardinals pulled to within 5-4 on goals from Regan and Schmitzer before Cortland strung together its key six-goal run from five different scorers to go up 11-4 with 6:22 left in the second half. Catholic netted four of the next five goals to cut Cortland's lead to 12-8, but the game was inside 40 seconds at that point. Ohberg completed the scoring with 27 seconds remaining for the 13-8 final.

Cortland 13, Catholic 8

GAME SUMMARY:

Team 1-2 Final
Cortland 5-8 13
Catholic 2-6 8

Scoring (Goals-Assists):
Cortland: Hannah Elmer 4-0, Nicolette Tortorici 3-0, Makenzie Annable 2-1, Kristen Ohberg 1-2, Lexie Meager 1-1, Carly Stone 1-1, Brie Yonge 1-0, Katie Wolfe 0-1
Catholic: Holly Regan 2-2, Clair Schmitzer 2-0, Ana Brandenburg 2-0, Laura Dunn 1-1, Nicolette Crisalli 1-0, Julia Clement1 0-1, Alexis Bosilovic 0-1

Goalkeepers:
Cortland: Jaclyn Beshlian,13 saves (8 GA in 60:00)
Catholic: Nanci Hernandez, 6 saves (5 GA in 30:00), Christina DeCesaris, 5 saves (8 GA in 30:00)

Shots: Cortland 32, Catholic 26
Ground Balls: Cortland 25, Catholic 25
Clears: Cortland 9-of-11, Catholic 9-of-11
Draw Controls: Catholic 14, Cortland 9
Caused Turnovers: Catholic 9, Cortland 7
Turnovers: Catholic 13, Cortland 12

Records after game: Cortland (Red Dragons) 3-1 (ranked 7th nationally in Div. III); Catholic (Cardinals) 3-1 (ranked 5th nationally in Div. III)