FINAL STATS
Staten Island, NY – The Wagner College women's lacrosse team saw its bid to for its school-record tying sixth straight win come up short as Quinnipiac defeated the Seahawks 19-8 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) opener for both teams.

With the loss, Wagner saw its season record fall to 4-5 on the season, 0-1 in the NEC while the Bobcats improve to 2-4 overall and are off to a 1-0 start in league play.

Consecutive goals by senior midfielder Melanie Garces (San Diego, CA/ Westview) within a 32-second span, tied the game at 3-3 with 18:05 remaining in the first half. The Bobcats then went on a pivotal 6-1 run in building a 9-4 advantage at halftime. Devon Gibney scored a pair of goals for Quinnipiac during this surge.

Wagner scored the first tally of the second half, a goal out of the stick of Morin off a Mills assist at the 25:12 mark of the second half to make it a 9-5 game. But that'd as close as the Seahawks would get as Quinnipiac ran off four straight goals to build a 13-5 lead with 22:09 left en route to the 19-8 victory.

Gibney wound up with a game-high five points and four goals and one assist  to lead nine different Quinnipiac players who found the net. Also scoring four goals for the Bobcats was Michaela Tinsley while Kyra Ochwat added three goals and one assist. Samantha Tilts recorded nine saves in goal notching the win during the first 47 minutes of play. Noelle Martello came on to play the final 13 minutes and saved one shot.

For Wagner, Garces, senior attacker Carolyn Clark (Syracuse, NY/ Westhill)  and sophomore attacker Sam Morin (Rockville Centre, NY/ South Side) scored two goals apiece to pace the Seahawks on the offensive end. Senior midfielder Lauren Petrik (Baldwinsville, NY/ C.W. Baker) added one goal and one assist, fellow senior middie Denieda McCullough (Freeport, NY/ Freeport) had one goal while freshman midfielder Jessica Mills (Vernon, NJ/ Vernon Township)was credited with one assist.

Junior attacker Erika Bulken (Baldwinsville, NY/ C.W. Baker), the nation's leader in draw controls per game coming into the contest, had five on the afternoon vs. the Bobcats. Sophomore defender Katy Bender (Cherry Hill, NJ/ Cherry Hill West) led the Seahawks in caused turnovers with four. Garces and sophomore defender Caitlin Daly (Ridgewood, NJ/ Ridgewood) were Wagner's team leaders in ground balls with three apiece.

In goal, freshman Shannon Sweeney (Madison, NJ/ Madison) absorbed her first loss of the season in seeing her record fall to 4-1. Sweeney recorded eight saves during the first 39 minutes of the game before giving way to sophomore Morgan Roach (Syracuse, NY/ Westhill) who came up with five stops in her 21 minutes of action.

Quinnipiac out-shot Wagner 34-24 and led in draw controls 17-12 while the Seahawks held a 16-12 edge in ground balls. On free-position shots, Wagner was successful on 2-of-7 while Quinnipiac was 2-of-5.
 
The Seahawks are right back in action on Sunday, March 25 when they play host to Sacred Heart in a 1:00 pm tussle at Wagner College Stadium.