Pictured Above: Tori McGrath (photo by Rich Formica)

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Fairfield, CT – Senior attacker Tori McGrath (Delmar, NY/Bethlehem Central) and senior midfielder Shea Gegan (Belmar, NJ/Manasquan) tallied two goals apiece and a stingy brand of defense forced Sacred Heart into committing 18 turnovers as the Wagner women's lacrosse team earned an 8-6 Northeast Conference (NEC) road victory this afternoon over the Pioneers.

With the win, the Seahawks improve to 2-1 in NEC play and 4-8 overall while SHU falls to 1-2 in league and 5-6 overall.

After falling behind 1-0 just nine seconds into the game on a goal by Averi Farhat, the Green & White went on a 3-0 run, evening the score at 1-1 just 47 seconds later on a goal by senior attacker Stephanie Peterson (Vernon, NJ/Vernon Township) on a free position shot. The Green & White then took the lead for good on McGrath's first goal, another FPO, at the 22:24 mark that made it a 2-1 game.

With 18:28 left in the opening half, Gegan completed the 3-0 burst with an unassisted score, to extend the lead to 3-1. Wagner then outscored SHU 3-2 the rest of the half in building a 6-3 advantage at the intermission.

Sacred Heart made things interesting by opening the second half on a 2-0 run on goals by Caitlin Delaney and Jenna Liljeberg, the latter at the 13:07 mark, to makeit a one-goal game at 6-5 before Seahawk junior attacker Olivia Streilein (Mt. Laurel, NJ/Lenape) answered with a goal at 10:53 off a Gegan assist to make it a 7-5 game.

The Pioneers again drew to within one at 7-6 on an unassisted goal by Jesslyn Joseph with 5:29 to play. That's the way the score remained until Gegan sealed the win with an unassisted score of her own with just 1:16 left and the Seahawk defense did the rest.

Gegan added an assist to her two goals in pacing the Green & White with three points. McGrath wound up with two points on the strength of her two goals while Peterson and senior attacker Kimmy Tumolo (Mullica Hill, NJ/Clearview Regional) finished with one goal apiece.

Sacred Heart, meanwhile, received one goal from six different players on the afternoon.

Wagner outshot Sacred Heart 25-14 and held a 14-9 edge in groundballs while the Pioneers were successful on 12-of-16 draw controls. The Seahawks, who turned the ball over just 11 times as compared to SHU's 18, were 3-of-4 on free position shots while the Pioneers were 1-of-2 in this category.

In goal, senior Katie Ferraro (Owings Mill, MD/McDonogh) turned away five shots in recording the win while SHU goalie Page Hammick was credited with seven saves.

The Seahawks will look to complete the weekend sweep when they travel to LIU Brooklyn to meet the Blackbirds in a rare 11:00 a.m. start.
 
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