Brookhaven, NY – The Penmen defense was able to hold off Dowling's late comeback attempt on their way to a 12-11 win at Golden Lions Field. Southern New Hampshire evens their record at 4-4 as Dowling drops to 4-2.

The Golden Lions opened the scoring on a Vanessa Moreira (Selden, NY) unassisted tally :32 seconds into the game. Southern New Hampshire would answer back with two of their own but Cassandra Cronin (Islip Terrace, NY) scored on a free position shot to tie the game at 2. A 3 goal run by the Penmen, capped by Libby Parent's second goal of the game and Dowling found themselves trailing by 3 (5-2), a theme that would be consistent for much of the game. With 2:22 remaining, Kelly Cefalu (East Islip, NY) finished a pass from Samantha Messineo (Ridge, NY) to cut the deficit to 2 (6-4) going into the half.

The Penmen came out hot in the second half, scoring 4 unanswered goals from four different players, and Southern New Hampshire quickly had a 6-goal advantage, their largest of the game. Dowling would respond with a 4-goal run of their own, the last coming from Melanie Burgos (Coram, NY) on a beautiful inside roll and shot to the far post. After trading a pair of goals, Lauren Marra (New Hyde Park, NY) would capitalize on a free position opportunity with :46 seconds left and Dowling found themselves only down by one. The Penmen controlled the last draw and possessed the ball to run out the clock on their way to victory.

Cronin finished with four goals for Dowling and Laura Rotolo had three goals and an assist for the Penmen. In the net, Katie Clark was huge for Southern New Hampshire, making 9 stops including two free position shots in the last two minutes. Rachael Goldstein (Ridge, NY) had 11 saves for the Golden Lions.

Dowling returns to action Wednesday, April 2 at 4:00 in a conference game against New Haven.

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OAKDALE, N.Y. – Laura Rotolo (Waltham, MA) totaled three goals and an assist to lead Southern New Hampshire University to a 12-11 women's lacrosse victory over Dowling College Friday afternoon at Golden Lions Field. The Penmen improved to 5-3 overall, while the first-year Golden Lion program stands at 4-2 on the season.

SNHU also got two goals apiece from Carole Lee (Derry, NH), Libby Parent (Hinesburg, VT) and Julie Kraus (Derry, NH). Lucretia Joy (Portland, ME), Sherry Darrell (Bow, NH) and Jennifer Parro (Ipswich, MA) each had a goal and an assist for the Penmen.

Cassandra Cronin led Dowling with four goals.

The Penmen held a 6-4 halftime lead but scored the first four goals of the second half to take a 10-4 lead with 18:29 left on a Kraus goal. Dowling scored the next four goals and a tally by Melanie Burgos with 13:39 left cut the SNHU lead to two, 10-8. Kraus gave Southern New Hampshire a 12-9 lead with just over eight minutes to play. Dowling cut the lead to one, 12-11, with 46 seconds left on Lauren Marra's goal but could not come up with the equalizer.

Southern New Hampshire trailed just once, at 1-0 32 seconds into the game. Parro would give SNHU a 5-2 lead with 7:05 left before intermission. The Penmen led 6-3 late in the half but a goal by Kelly Cefalu with 2:22 left made it 6-4 at the break.

Katie Clark (Norwich, CT) made nine saves for SNHU as the hosts held a 28-24 shot advantage.

SNHU wraps up its three-game Long Island trip with a game at defending Division II national champion C.W. Post Sunday.

2008-03-28