FINAL STATS

Newport News, VA – Reigning Northeast Conference (NEC) Player of the Week  Sam Morin (Rockville Center, NY/ South Side) fired home a career-high six goals, senior attacker Carolyn Clark (Syracuse, NY/ Westhill) added four goals and one assist while freshman goalkeeper Shannon Sweeney (Madison, NJ/ Madison) came up with a career-high 16 saves to lead Wagner to its fifth straight win, a 17-10 decision over Presbyterian.
 
In a neutral site game played on the campus of Christopher Newport University, the Seahawks improved to 5-3 on the season while the Blue Hose fall to 1-8. The five-game winning streak is Wagner's longest since late in the 2005 season when the Seahawks won five straight in posting a 9-9 record en route to an appearance in the NEC Tournament. That 2005 campaign also marked the last time Wagner qualified for the NEC Tourney, doing so with a 6-2 record.
 
These 2012 Seahawks will now look to tie the school-record six-game winning streak achieved by the 2001 Wagner team which opened the season with six consecutive wins. Wagner will go after that potential record-tying achievement on Friday, March 23 when the Seahawks host Quinnipiac in the NEC opener for both teams. The Wagner-Quinnipiac game will take place at Wagner College Stadium with opening draw set for 3:00 pm.
 
The five wins notched by Wagner, which now faces its nine-game NEC slate, are the most by fourth-year head coach Cristina Curiale who guided the Seahawks to four-win campaigns in 2009 and 2011. The five victories are also the most achieved by Wagner since the 2006 team went 5-12. Morin's six goals are the most by a Seahawks since Kelly Blundin found the mark six times vs. LIU-Brooklyn in April 9, 2009.
 
The Seahawks got off to a quick start in today's victory, jumping out to a 5-0 lead en route to building a 9-4 halftime advantage. Clark began the scoring on unassisted goal 4:25 into the game and then, 40 seconds later, assisted on Morin's first tally to make it 2-0 at the 24:45 mark. Sophomore midfielder Michela Galante (Maplewood, NJ/ Maplewood) broke a 5:23 scoring drought with a goal at 19:22 off an assist by senior midfielder Lauren Petrik (Baldwinsville, NY/ C. W. Baker) to make it a 3-0 game. Clark made it 4-0 with an unassisted marker at 18:09 before Morin, a sophomore attacker, capped the game-opening 5-0 run with an unassisted, man-up goal at 17:17.
 
The Blue Hose got on the board at the 10:23 mark off a Katie Prisco goal and 18 seconds later Catherine Ellis made it 5-2 with an unassisted goal with 9:55 to go in the half. The Seahawks countered with a 3-0 spree to extend the lead to 8-2 on goals by senior midfielder Melanie Garces (San Diego, CA/ Westview), junior attacker Erika Bulken (Baldwinville, NY/ C.W. Baker) and Morin. After Presbyterian notched two consecutive scores to draw within 8-4, Morin found the back of the net with just 15 seconds remaining in the half to provide Wagner with a 9-4 halftime cushion.
 
Presbytrian scored three of the first four second-half goals and when Kirsten Stenoien recorded the second of her three goals at the 22:34 juncture, the Blue Hose were within three at 10-7. But Wagner put the game away with its second 5-0 run of the game in building a commanding 15-7 lead with 13:20 left. Petrik got the run rolling with a tally at 20:55. Following goals by Morin, Clark and Galante, Petrik finished what she started by capping the run with the goal at 13:20 that made it 15-7.
 
The Blue Hose made things interesting by running off three unanswered goals to make it a 15-10 game with 6:29 left, but a goal by Morin at 4:12 followed by a Galante score at 1:52, quelled the Presbyterian rally in fashioning the final score at 17-10.
 
Following their combined 10-goal outing, Morin and Clark are tied for the team in goals with 23. Supporting Morin's six-goal splurge and Clark's four-goal flurry was a hat trick by Galante which gives her eight goals on the year. The ever-consistent and solid Petrik, who always seems to be in the middle of the action had a four-point game with two goals and two assists.
 
Stenoien paced Presbyterian with three goals while Eillis and Lauren Lefeber added two goals each for the Blue Hose. In goal, Susan England, who came on in relief of Samantha Arey 12 minutes into the game, absorbed the loss in falling to 1-4 on the season. Sweeney, meanwhile, is now a perfect 4-0 in goal for Wagner.
 
Presbyterian out-shot Wagner 31-28 but Sweeney's reactions in goal kept the Blue Hose, who also led in ground balls (19-17) and draw controls (15-14), at bay. Wagner's precise execution in the open field was reflected in the Seahawks' being successful on 19-of-20 clears while Presbyterian was 12-of-16 on clears. Neither team found much success in free-position shots as Wagner was 1-of-4 while the Blue Hose went 1-of-5 in FPOs.