POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – The Marist women's lacrosse led the entire way as they defeated the Iona Gaels 11-7 in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) matchup on Sunday afternoon. The Red Foxes outshot their opponents 31-20 overall, and 24-10 in the first half. With the win, Marist improved to 7-2 overall and 2-1 within the conference.

Senior Kate Nofstker (Needham, Mass.) led the Marist attack with four goals. Classmate Stephanie Garland (Long Valley, N.J.) had three assists. Overall seven different Red Foxes scored goals during the game.

Marist controlled the game and possession from the opening face-off and spent a majority of the first 16 minutes of the opening stanza in the Iona third of the field. Despite this fact, Noftsker scored the first goal of the game with 14:56 to play in the opening period. Her goal sparked a 4-0 run that spanned just under three minutes.

The Gaels scored consecutive goals at the 10:47 and 9:20 marks off the sticks of Casey Scully and Kerry Thompson to cut the Marist lead to two, 5-3.

Junior Lauren Ciccarello (Wantagh, N.Y.) and freshman Jori Procaccini (Long Valley, N.J.) answered with goals of their own to increase the Marist lead. At the end of the first half, the Red Foxes led, 7-4. Ciccarello had three draw controls, two ground balls and two caused turnovers as well.

In the second half, the Red Foxes used the clock to their advantage and outscored Iona 4-3. Marist scored three goals in a row over a 10 minute period to secure the victory. Freshman Ariel Kramer (Syracuse, N.Y.) sophomore Jessica Guarino (Wantagh, N.Y.) and junior Erin Wilson (Ada, Mich.) all notched a goal during the stretch. Wilson picked up three ground balls on the day as well.

Freshman goalkeeper Kelsey Thoms (Newark, N.Y.) improved to 7-2 on the season, as she made eight saves between the pipes for Marist.

Iona's goalkeeper, Collen Magri made 16 saves in an attempt to keep the Gaels in the game for as long as she could. In the first half alone she had 14 saves to keep the score close.

The Red Foxes will return to action on Friday, April 3 when they travel to Fairfield for a MAAC match with the preseason favorite Stags. The opening draw is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

2009-03-29