BROOKHAVEN, N.Y. – Freshman Cassi Cronin (Islip Terrace, N.Y.) scored four goals to lead Dowling to a 15-14 win over Bentley on Wednesday night in non-conference Division II women's lacrosse action at Golden Lions Field. The Golden Lions won their first ever game as a varsity program, the season opener for both teams.

The game was tied at 13-13 with six minutes remaining after Bentley junior Alyssa Ritchie (North Andover, Mass./North Andover HS) scored her second of the game on a free position shot. Junior Lauren Marra (New Hyde Park, N.Y.) put Dowling in the lead with 4:19 to go and sophomore Vanessa Moreira (Selden, N.Y.) netted the eventual game-winner with 2:49 on the clock. Freshman Leigh Tedeschi (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury HS) scored her second goal in her collegiate debut to bring the Falcons back within one with 2:37 remaining, but Bentley was unable to find an equalizer.

Freshman Kelly Cefalu (East Islip, N.Y.) and junior Stephanie Cotter (Ridge, N.Y.) each tallied hat tricks for the Golden Lions, as did senior Beth Gendron (Tyngsboro, Mass./Tyngsboro HS) to lead the Falcons. Ritchie notched five assists to go with her two goals.

The game started off as a back-and-forth affair with neither team staking out more than a two-goal lead before halftime. Bentley jumped out to a 4-2 lead thanks to the first career goals from sophomores Lauren Gennosa (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside HS) and Erica de Silva (Dartmouth, Mass./Dartmouth HS), but that lead was soon erased after a trio of Dowling goals. A free position shot by Marra with one second to go in the first half gave Dowling a one-goal lead at the intermission. That kicked off a string of four unanswered tallies, including two from Cefalu, that gave the Lions a 10-6 lead.

Bentley came back with four of their own over a three-minute span, capped by the second goal from senior Liz Goddard (Acton, Mass./Acton-Boxborough HS) to knot the score at 10-10.

Freshman Rachel Goldstein (Ridge, N.Y.) made 12 saves to earn Dowling's first collegiate win, while sophomore Christina Guglielmo (Fair Haven, N.J./Rumson-Fair Haven HS) stopped 11 shots in defeat for Bentley as each side put 26 shots on goal, although the Golden Lions had a 37-29 overall advantage in shots.

The Falcons are in action again on Friday, visiting Philadelphia University at 2:30 p.m. The home opener comes on Saturday, March 22, against Southern New Hampshire at 1:00 p.m.

2008-03-13