Men’s and women’s lacrosse continue to search for
their top form in early stages of 2016 season.
Photo Credit: Patrick Eskay
The Montclair State women’s lacrosse team played in front of over 500 spectators after the two Caroline Fund Charity Games that were played at Sprague Field on Feb. 27 and 28. In the end, the women came away from the weekend with a win and a loss, and will be looking ahead to their next contest in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
The weekend began with a thrilling contest against The College at Brockport on Feb. 27. Despite scoring seven second-half goals, Montclair State ultimately found themselves in too deep of a hole at halftime and lost their first game of the season, 12-9.
After four goals in their season opener against Drew University, junior attack Lindsay Lare scored four more goals from eight shots on goal. Three of her goals came in a span of six minutes and all four were scored in the second half.
After Montclair State dropped to an 11-2 deficit with 25:47 left in the final half, the Red Hawks rattled off five straight goals to pull the score to 11-7. Brockport would gain one more insurance goal from Makensie Schuber, but the Red Hawks scored two more — one from Lare — to pull the score within three. Unfortunately, Montclair State could not close the gap before the final whistle.
In the end, Brockport opened up their season with a win, while Montclair State dropped to 1-1.
Montclair State had a quick 3 p.m. turnaround the next day with the second Caroline Fund Charity Game at Sprague Field against No. 15 Fredonia College. This time, Montclair State took a page out of Brockport’s book and jumped out to a 6-3 lead going into the second half. Despite opening up the second half with two straight goals, Fredonia conceded the next three Montclair State goals, two goals from Francesca Verrone and one from Chelsea Orban.
Fredonia would score three out of the last four goals, but the deficit was too great as Montclair State pulled out the win, 10-8. Montclair State improved to 2-1 with the win, while Fredonia dropped to 0-2.
The women’s lacrosse team’s next game will take place on March 6 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania against 2-0 Gettysburg College, who will be playing their home opener. During Spring Break, the Red Hawks will travel across the country to Claremont, California to face Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on March 11. They will wrap up their three-game road trip against Stevens Institute of Technology on March 16 in Hoboken.
On the men’s side, the Red Hawks looked to get a positive result following a season-opening loss to Salisbury University in Salisbury, Maryland. Montclair State faced a tough task as they traveled to Carlisle, Pennsylvania to take on Dickinson College, who came into the game at 2-0.
Montclair State did all they could to remain in the game at half time with just a 3-1 deficit going into the break. Junior attack Brady Wulster scored the lone Montclair State goal in the first half.
In the second half, the flood gates opened as 17 total goals were scored. Dickinson slowly started to pull away as the third quarter went on and brought the lead to 10-5 with 12:34 to go in the final quarter. After senior midfielder Connor Cunningham closed the gap to 10-6, Dickinson rattled off four straight goals to bring the game out of reach — the final score stood at 14-7.
The Red Hawks dropped to 0-2 on the season, while Dickinson improved to 3-0.
The Red Hawks will go back on the road for their next game on March 5 against Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. They will briefly return to Sprague Field for a 4 p.m. clash with Ursinus College on March 9 before traveling to Baltimore, Maryland for a neutral-venue game against Denison University at the Coppermine Field House on March 12. They will then return to Sprague Field on March 16 for a 4 p.m. contest against Muhlenberg College.
