Photo above by Kostas Lymperopoulos

Staten Island, NY – After falling behind by an an early 5-0 count, the Wagner College women's lacrosse team staged a furious second-half rally that came up just short, as Iona hung on for a 12-10 victory in the season opener for both teams today at brisk Hameline Field.

The offensive catalyst for the defending Northeast Conference (NEC) champions was sophomore attacker Anna Belle Reilly (Paradise Valley, AZ / Notre Dame Prep), who poured in a career-high four goals on the afternoon.

Junior attacker Heidi Colford (Eden Praire, MN  Eden Praire) added two goals, both on free position shots, while four different Seahawks hit for one goal each in junior midfielder Lauren Ednie (Verona, NJ / Verona), sophomore attacker Marjorie Dehm, (Baldwinsville, NY / C.W. Baker), junior midfielder April Simmons (Branford, CT / Brandford), and freshman attacker Stephanie Falcone (Orefield, PA / Perkiomen School).

Iona's Pan Giordano led all scorers with six goals while Erin Pugh added two for the visitors from the MAAC.
After falling behind by that 5-0 deficit midway through the first half, the Seahawks broke through with their first goal of the season, an unassisted effort from Reilly with 12:43 remaining in the opening stanza.

The Gaels notched the next two goals before Colford's first score, with 4:34 left in the half, made it a 7-2 game. Iona then punched in a goal by Giordano off a Grece Celona assist with just two second left in the half to make it an 8-2 game at the intermission.

Giordano scored a pair of early second-half goals that were sandwiched around anther Colford free position score in building a 10-3 lead five minutes into the second stanza. It was at this point that Wagner staged its first of two 3-0 runs as goals by Simmons (unassisted at 22:24), Falcone (free-position shot at 17:45), and Reilly (unassisted at 17:01) drew the Seahawks to within 10-6.

Pugh briefly stopped the Wagner flurry with an unassisted tally at the 16:45 mark to make it an 11-6 game before the Seahawks struck for their second three-goal run. Dehm, a transfer from the University of Vermont playing her first game as a Seahawk, got it started with an unassisted score with 15:41 left to again make it a three-goal game at 10-7.

Ednie, who was Wagner's team leader in draw controls with six, then got into the act, assisting on Reilly's third goal of the game at the 12:08 mark, before sinking her own unassisted score with 9:20 to go that made it a two-goal game at 11-9.

After Giordano tossed in her sixth goal on a breakaway off a Celona assist with 7:22 left to make it 12-9, Reilly answered with her fourth, an unassisted tally with 6:46 to go, in what would be prove to be the game's final score as Iona held on for the win.

Statistically, Iona outshot the Seahawks 28-22 and in led in groundballs (20-16) and draw controls (12-11). Wagner executed well on free position shots on both ends, converting three of their five FPOs while holding the Gaels to 1-of-7 in this department. The Seahawks were guilty of 23 turnovers while Iona turned the ball over 19 times.

Junior Lucy Darlington (Timonium, MD / Notre Dame Preparatory) made her second career start in goal and came up with two saves in the game's opening 19:42 before giving way to junior Kelsey Fee (White Plains, NY / White Plains/Ithaca College) who came on to record eight saves while allowing just six goals over the final 40:18.

The Green & White now face a three-game road stretch beginning with a matchup at Hofstra on Tuesday, February 21. First draw between the Seahawks and the Pride is set for 2:00 p.m.

Follow us: #CHAOSonthehill
Wagner Athletics