SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The No. 11 University of New Haven women's lacrosse team dropped its NCAA Division II opening round game 9-6 to third seeded No. 5 LIU Post on Friday afternoon at Ted Grant Field in Syracuse, N.Y. With the loss, New Haven concludes its season with a 13-7 overall record after advancing to the NCAA Championship for the third straight season.
Leading the Chargers on the day was freshman Mackenzie Reh (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue Medford) who had a hand in a pair of goals for the Blue and Gold. Reh would close out her rookie campaign scoring a free position goal and assisting junior Caitlin O'Brien (Branford, Conn./Branford) on another. Overall, the Chargers six goals all came from different players.
Among the goal scorers for the Chargers were a trio of players who would be playing in their final campaign. Devon Previte (Toms River, N.J./Toms River North) was the first senior to find the goal with her tally coming in the first half, while Corinne Fisher (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Memorial) and Alicia Busco (Agawam, Mass./Agawam) each scored second half goals.
Suffering the loss in goal was senior Alyssa Gianotti (Monkton, Md./Hereford) who gave up eight of the Pioneers nine goals and made four saves in 35:30 minutes of action. Marissa McDermott (Longmeadow, Mass./Wilbraham & Monson Academy) would close out the game in net for UNH, making three stops while allowing one tally.
New Haven would put the first shot on goal in the game when Nicole Belanger (Kinnelon, N.J./Kinnelon) had an early free position attempt thwarted by the LIU Post keeper. The Pioneers would go on to score five straight goals, all within a seven minute span.
Junior midfielder Nicole Belanger (Kinnelon, N.J./Kinnelon) would break the ice for the Chargers scoring off a pass from senior attack Corrine Fisher just before the midpoint of the half. That goal was the 37th of the season for Belanger and would turn out to be the first of two straight for the Blue and Golf.
Just under six minutes after that initial UNH goal, Previte cut the deficit to three when she scored off of a free position attempt. From the hash mark just right of center, she drove forward a couple of steps and fired a bounce shot that beat the keeper on the right side.
LIU Post added one more goal before the break, while UNH had an opportunity in the final seconds driving down field. After a pass across the attacking zone, the shot from junior attack Caitlin O'Brien (Branford, Conn./Branford) found the stick of the Pioneers keeper.
At the intermission, New Haven trailed in the shot category by a 12-7 margin. Gianotti closed out the half with four saves, while her counterpart recorded four.
Coming out of the intermission, the Chargers won the opening draw and looked to cut into the lead with a free position attempt, however the shot by Fisher was thwarted again by the LIU Post netminder. LIU Post would go on to score two unanswered goals to take their largest lead of the game at 8-2.
New Haven would break the momentum with back-to-back goals coming four minutes apart with Reh having a hand in both scores. The first goal came all from Reh as she scored on a free position attempt. The scoring play was originally set up by Busco who tracked down an errant pass from the Pioneers.
UNH would win the ensuing draw control, but a shot from Previte went right into the keepers stick. After an LIU Post shot on the other end deflected off the post, New Haven charged down the field and scored, this time with Caitlin O'Brien (Branford, Conn./Branford) tallying the goal off a feed from Reh. O'Brien running in from behind the net quickly turned the pass from Reh around and scored to the top left corner.
Just prior to the 10 minute mark, Busco would bring it back to a four-goal game when she connected with Jessica Mazliah (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem North) for her first tally of the day. With just under 90 seconds remaining, the Chargers would cut the lead down to three with Corinne Fisher (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Memorial) netting her first goal of the game, extending her team lead for the season to 43. The goal for Fisher was unassisted as she drove across the zone and fired a shot just inside the opposite post. LIU Post would go on to win the ensuing draw control and run out the clock for the victory.
