SCHENECTADY, NY -- Behind five goals each from sophomores Chelsea Charette (South Hadley, MA/South Hadley) and Kristin Joyce (Longmeadow, MA/Longmeadow), the top-seeded Union College women's lacrosse team (14-2) advanced to the Liberty League Championship game with a 16-7 victory against fourth-seeded Rochester (8-9) on Friday afternoon at Frank Bailey Field. The No. 6 Dutchwomen will face the winner of second-seeded Hamilton and fourth-seeded Williams Smith on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

Joyce finished the day with seven points, while Charette had six. Junior Allie Cuozzo (Norfolk, MA/King Phillip Regional) was another multi-goal scorer with two goals on four shots.

Mary Kate Hannan (Syracuse, NY/Christian Brothers Academy) led Rochester with two goals and an assist, while senior Abby Woodword (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Sutherland) had two goals.

The two teams played the 15 minutes even with Union striking first at 27:10 when Joyce hooked up with a pass from Charette. The Yellowjackets wasn't responded less than three minutes later at 24:45 with a goal from senior Erica Gelb (New Woodstock, NY/Cazenovia) on a free position.

The two teams exchanged goals with Charette finding the back of the net at 20:44 and Hannan. Charette gave Union the lead for good at 14:44 when he tallied her 41st goal of the season, sparking a four-goal run that gave Union a 6-2 lead at the half.

Dakin struck early in the second half for Rochester to pull within three, but the Dutchwomen responded with three straight goals -- two from Charette and one from Cuozzo. Woodword scored on a free position to make it 9-4 at the 24:01 mark.

Still playing with a five-goal lead, Charette scored at 21:51 from senior Liz Zamore (South Hero, VT/Essex). The goal was the first of six straight for Union -- a run that included goals from Cuozzo, junior Jill LaForest (Action, MA/Action-Boxborough), freshman Kat Egizi (Westwoord, MA/Westwood) and two from Joyce.

Rochester junior Danielle Mondro (Concord, NH/Bishop Brady) and Woodward scored back-to-back to make it 15-6 with 9:31 remaining. Both team's exchanged goals during the final six minutes to produce the final result.

Between the pipes, Union sophomore Cat Ruggiero (Huntington, NY/Huntington) made six saves fro her 12th win of the year. Rochester senior Leslie Dube (Skaneateles, NY/Marcellus) made six stops.

The Dutchwomen outshot the Yellowjackets, 30-18, and won the groundball battle, 30-17. Union will be playing in the conference title game for the sixth consecutive year.

2009-05-01