Hempstead, NY – The Wagner women's lacrosse team will conclude its four-game road trip on Wednesday afternoon at Hofstra.
Last Time Out
The Seahawks defeated Lehigh, 8-7 in overtime this past Saturday for the team's first win of the season and the first win of the
Kelly McPartland era.
For the third consecutive game, the Seahawks opened the scoring in the contest. This time, it was senior
Kasey Dorney 2:30 into the opening quarter. Graduate student
Victoria Tucci gave Wagner a 2-1 lead after the Mountain Hawks responded to Dorney's opening goal. Dorney claimed her second goal of the afternoon midway through the first quarter to give the Green & White a 3-1 lead after the first quarter.
Lehigh launched a 2-0 run to open the second quarter and the game remained deadlocked before
Kasey Dorney completed her hat trick with 19 seconds remaining in the half to give Wagner a 4-3 lead at the half.
Lehigh Junior Katia Carnevale completed her hat trick with the opening two goals of the second half to give the Mountian Hawks a 5-4 lead with 11:29 remaining in the third. Both of Carnevale's goals were assisted by classmate Gabby Schneider.
Lehigh took a 5-4 lead into the final quarter and extended their lead to 6-4 with 11:49 remaining on a goal from sophomore Olivia Memeger. Graduate student
Madeline Seims brought Wagner to within one goal with 10:42 remaining in the fourth quarter before classmate
Victoria Tucci tied the game five minutes later. Seims tallied her second goal of the quarter on a free-position opportunity with 2:16 remaining to give the Seahawks a 7-6 lead before Lehigh tied the contest with six seconds remaining to force overtime.
Senior goalkeeper
Lauren DiStefano made two crucial stops in overtime to set up opportunities for Wagner to claim the victory. Wagner put a stamp on the contest in overtime when
Victoria Tucci fired a shot that was stopped by the Lehigh goalkeeper and the rebound was picked up by
Madeline Seims who found
Kasey Dorney and fired the game winning goal and her fourth of the contest.
DiStefano And Dorney Claim NEC Weekly Honors
Seniors
Lauren DiStefano and
Kasey Dorney claimed Northeast Conference (NEC) Player of the Week honors after strong performances against Lehigh.
Lauren DiStefano claimed NEC Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season and for the third time in her career. She garnered this award on February 22 after a solid outing in Wagner's 12-10 defeat to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) favorites on Saturday, February 19. The senior captain registered 17 saves against the Stags as she was dominant through the first three quarters, holding Fairfield to eight goals while making 14 stops. She also caused one turnover and collected two ground balls for Wagner.
Against Lehigh on Saturday, DiStefano made 15 stops which include two game saving stops in overtime before classmate
Kasey Dorney scored the overtime winner to give Wagner its first win of the season. Along with her 15 saves, DiStefano sported a 68.2 save percentage and tallied three ground balls and one caused turnover.
This season, the West Islip, NY native ranks first in the NEC in saves per game (14.25) and is second in save percentage (.514). DiStefano has played every minute in net for Wagner so far this season and has stopped 72 shots.
Kasey Dorney claimed Co-NEC Player of the Week honors after scoring four goals on six shots as she scooped one ground ball, caused one turnover, and tallied one draw control. Dorney also went 1-1 on free-position opportunities and scored the game-winning goal against Lehigh to secure the first victory of the season for Wagner on Saturday.
This is the third time in Dorney's career she has claimed an NEC weekly honor as last season the All-NEC First Team member was named Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week on the same day, April 26, 2021, and claimed Player of the week on March 8, 2021. The Deer Park, NY native leads Wagner in goals (10), points (11), free-position shots (7), ground balls (12), and draw controls (17).
Along with claiming weekly honors, both players claimed NEC Prime Performer honors.
About Hofstra
The Pride welcome the Seahawks on Tuesday sporting a 4-1 overall record and winners of their last three contests. In their last contest, the Pride defeated Albany, 11-7, on Saturday, March 5. Their two previous victories came against Fairfield on Saturday, February 26 before defeating Brown on Tuesday, February 22.
Graduate student Katie Whelan has spearheaded the Pride attack this season as she leads the team in goals (12), shots (29), and points (17).
Senior Jess Smith has played every minute in between the pipes this season for the Pride as she is sporting a .575 save percentage with save percentage with 50 saves on 87 shots faced.
What's Next
The Green & White will return home on Saturday, March 12 to welcome Colgate to Hameline Field at 2:00 P.M.
