Box Score ALBANY, NY - The Utica University women's lacrosse team went wire-to-wire on Wednesday afternoon in a 16-4 win over the Russell Sage College Gators.
Grace Stuhlman (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) led the team with four goals and finished tied for the team high, along with
Samantha DeCondo (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro),
Belicia Biette (Troy, NY/Columbia) and
Abigail Gerling (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro), with two assists.
Alyssa Pisano (Hopewell Junction, NY/Arlington) (Hopewell Junction, NY/Arlington) notched a hat trick with three goals on four shots while DeCondo and
Alyssa Drell (Mastic, NY/William Floyd) each had two goals.
Breese Burlingame (Binghamton, NY/Northfield Mount Hermon) picked up her seventh win of the season after allowing just four goals and making 13 saves on a .765 save percentage.
The Pioneers came out firing with a goal just over 30 seconds into the game.
Samantha DeCondo (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) connected with
Alyssa Pisano (Hopewell Junction, NY/Arlington) (Hopewell Junction, NY/Arlington) for the junior's ninth goal of the season. About five minutes later, DeCondo netted her 33rd goal of her senior campaign off a
Grace Stuhlman (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) assist. Later in the quarter,
Abigail Gerling (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) scored with just under two minutes to go as Utica took a 3-0 lead into the second.
Sage found the board first in the fresh quarter however, the Pioneers would go on to rattle three in a row from the 8:18 mark to the 6:07 in the second as
Belicia Biette (Troy, NY/Columbia) and
Alyssa Drell (Mastic, NY/William Floyd) each recorded their first of the game while Pisano netted her second. The Gators would respond with two goals just one minute apart from one another, one of which on the advantage, before
Daniela Muscari (Millbrook, NY/Millbrook) put the team up 7-3 with her 12th goal of the season with four minutes left in the half.
Pisano then capped off her second hat trick of the season with just 36 seconds remaining in the quarter to help guide Utica to an 8-3 lead at the break. Utica outshot Sage 17–10 and 11-6 on goal in the first half while causing five of 10 Gator turnovers and winning seven of 13 draws. The team also went 2-for-4 on free position shots over the first 30 minutes while Sage went 0-for-1.
Utica took full control throughout the second half as the team outscored Sage 8-1 including 6-0 in the third quarter. Stuhlman scored three of her four goals in the third quarter alone before finding the back of the net for her fourth one minute into the final quarter.
The Pioneer defense kept Sage off the board over the final 30 minutes of play until there was 5:24 left in the contest.
Utica (7-6, 3-2 Empire 8) will return home on Saturday to host Alfred University at 1 p.m. for its regular season home finale. The team will also honor its seniors prior to the game.
