BOXSCORE
All season long, the members of The College at Brockport’s women’s lacrosse team have wanted to show they belong with the nation’s top Division III teams.
During Brockport’s first-round NCAA tournament contest against nationally-ranked Hamilton College Wednesday afternoon, the Golden Eagles showed they are a program on the rise.
Facing the 2010 NCAA runners-up, the Green and Gold put a major scare into host Hamilton. Brockport got two first-half goals from both junior Dayna Piraino (Syracuse, NY/Henninger) and sophomore Kaila Maguire (Potsdam, NY/Potsdam) as the Golden Eagles led third-ranked Hamilton 6-5 late in the half.
The Continentals (18-1), who lost to Salisbury University in the 2010 NCAA national championship game, scored the equalizer with 93 seconds remaining in the half to spark a critical 6-1 run bridging both halves.
Brockport’s (10-7) second straight NCAA tournament appearance ended with a 14-7 defeat to Hamilton at Steuben Field.
“If we want to be that program that consistently wins and competes for national championships, this is where it starts,” Linda Michele, Brockport’s second-year coach, said after the defeat.
“This was a great opportunity for us to measure up against one of the country’s top teams and see where we’re at, and where we still need to go. … Going to the NCAA tournament two years in a row, hopefully our underclassmen got that taste of success and hopefully they stay hungry and are ready to accomplish more next year.”
Piraino, who finished with three goals, staked Brockport to a 1-0 lead just 1:46 in. After a long, controlled possession, Piraino spun in and scored into the far-side of the gage. Maguire pushed the Brockport edge to 2-0 with an unassisted bounce shot 4:54 into the game, before Hamilton responded with four straight goals to take a 4-2 lead.
Piraino’s second goal of the half put a stop to Hamilton’s run with 13:57 remaining before the half. Sophomore Sarah Brown (Syracuse, NY/West Genesee) fed Piraino, who trimmed the lead to 4-3.
After a Hamilton score from the near-side of the cage made it 5-3, Brockport’s defense stepped up to keep it a two-goal game.
Senior Jamie Kaminsky (Oakdale, NY/Sayville) made a big save on Hamilton’s Kate Otley, who had gotten free in front of the net. On the ensuing possession, a sprinting Maguire bounced a shot past Hamilton goalie Dewi Caswell to make it a one-goal game with 5:51 remaining in the half.
Junior Lindsay John (Angola, NY/Lake Shore) won the ensuing draw control before junior Carly Motondo (Syracuse, NY/West Genesee) found a slashing Alyssa Scordo (Watertown, NY/South Jefferson) for the equalizer just 27 seconds later.
Junior Karen Bianchi (Syracuse, NY/West Genesee) gave the Green and Gold a 6-5 lead. In transition, Brown made a one-time pass to Bianchi, who shot low and scored with 2:40 remaining in the half. It was Brown’s second assist of the game.
The Continentals pulled even with 93 seconds remaining in the half, and the score remained 6-all heading into intermission.
Hamilton seized control, scoring the first two goals of the second half to take an 8-6 lead. Piraino made it 8-7 on a free-position goal, her third of the game, but the Continentals killed off a penalty before scoring with 19:36 remaining for a 9-7 lead.
The Brockport deficit grew to 10-7 when a free-position shot trickled in off Kaminsky’s foot less than a minute later. Another free-position goal made it 11-7 and after holding Hamilton scoreless for nearly eight minutes, the Continentals scored for a 12-7 lead with 7:59 to play.
Hamilton pushed the lead to 13-7 48 seconds later. Kaminsky made three huge saves to keep the deficit at six, but the Continentals finally broke through for their 14th and final goal with 1:04 to play.
Kaminsky finished with six saves for Brockport, which won 12 draw controls compared to 11 for Hamilton.
“We needed to possess the ball more than we did,” Michele said of her Golden Eagles, who earned the No. 20 ranking in the latest Synapse Sports (formerly womenslacrosse.com) Division III weekly poll.
“We had some nice shots today, but we just didn’t finish, especially in the second half. We spent too much time on defense, and good teams like Hamilton will find a way to score.”
The Continentals, making their fifth straight tournament appearance, will face Colby College (14-4), a 17-4 winner over Norwich University, at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the NCAA Regionals.
Brockport, which last year defeated Rowan University 16-9 in the first round before losing to Franklin and Marshall University, fell to 1-2 all-time in the NCAA tournament.
