Pictured Above: Freshman Ally Alliegro (photo by Bob Park)

Staten Island, NY – The Bryant women's lacrosse team scored two goals in the game's final 1:17 to pull out an 11-10 victory over Wagner as the Bulldogs secure the Northeast Conference (NEC) regular season title and home field advantage in next week's conference tournament.
 
In a battle of teams that entered the game tied atop the NEC standings with matching 5-0 records, the Bulldogs move to 6-0 in league play while the Seahawks are now 5-1. Overall, Bryant improves to 11-4 while Wagner falls to 10-5.
 


There's a chance these teams will meet in the NEC championship game for the fifth straight season. Wagner closes the regular season with a Senior Day contest on Sunday vs. Central Connecticut.
 
Mount St Mary's and Robert Morris, who own matching 4-2 league marks with one game to play each, are the other two teams who have earned spots in the four-team tournament.
 
The Seahawks overcame an early 3-1 deficit by outscoring the Bulldogs 6-2 in surging to a 7-5 halftime lead. Neither team would find the net for the first 13:21 of the second half before Jess DeMeo broke the scoreless string with a goal at the 16:39 mark to make it a 7-6 game. Just 24 seconds later, Bryant struck again as Natalie Langella tied it at 7-7.
 
After junior attack Anna Belle Reilly answered by sinking a rebound off her own missed shot, with 15:47 left, to put Wagner back into the lead at 8-7, Langella then connected again with 15:18 to go forging the game's final fourth tie, at 8-8.
 
After Bryant regained the lead, at 9-8, on a Cairlin Breglia score with 14:41 to go, Seahawk freshman midfielder Ally Alliegro uncorked two straight goals, the latter coming on a free position shot in traffic with 1:34 left that put the Seahawks ahead, 10-9.
 
The Bulldogs weren't done yet though as Catlin Brown knotted it again, at 10-10, with 1:17 left. Bryant's Meredith James then plucked the ensuing draw control out of the air to give the Bulldogs possession once again.
 
After the ball was worked around the perimeter, it wound up in the stick of Lauren Britton who fired in the game-winning goal with just 48 seconds left.
 
Alliegro, the reigning and four-time NEC Rookie of the Week, wound up with a career-high six goals on the afternoon, while adding a seventh point with an assist. Senior attack Heidi Colford added two scores while Reilly and senior midfielder Lauren Ednie added one goal apiece.
 
In goal, senior Lucy Darlington made two first-half saves while allowing five goals. Classmate Kelsey Fee came on to play the entire second half, allowing six scores while being credited with three saves.
 
Bryant was led by DeMeo's three goals, while Brown and Langella added two apiece while goalie Sam Santeramo came up with 15 saves in goal.
 
Statistically, Wagner held the advantage in shots (32-27) and groundballs (34-19) while the Bulldogs led in draw controls, 14-8.
 
Wagner more than held its own in free position shots, sinking 5-of-10, while the Seahawks' goalie tandem was stout on FPS chances as Bryant was successful on just 2-of-9.

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