Box Score

Interview with Coach Cunningham | Highlights

HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 27, 2013) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's lacrosse team locked up a spot in the 2013 Empire 8 Championship with an 18-4 win over Utica College Saturday at the De Baun Athletic Complex.
 
Stevens improves to 8-9 overall and 4-3 in the Empire 8 and will enter next weekend's conference tourney as the fourth seed. The Ducks will battle top-seeded Ithaca College in the semifinals on Saturday, May 4 at 12 p.m.
 
Utica drops to 9-6 and 2-5 in the conference with the loss.
 
On a day when Stevens honored its three seniors prior to the game – midfielder Spencer Waybright (West Hartford, Conn.), midfield Joey Galligan (Burlingame, Calif.) and goalie Meg Collins (Marshfield, Mass.) – Waybright fed sophomore attack Andrea Dragoni (Easton, Pa.) for a tally 31 seconds into the action. Galligan made it 2-0 moments later and after the Pioneers scored their first of the game, Stevens ran off five-straight tallies over a span of 6:54 to open a 7-1 lead. Waybright scored three times in the run and assisted two others, and the Ducks would not be threatened the rest of the way.
 
The Pioneers got within five at 7-2 following a marker from sophomore Megan Kane (Staten Island, N.Y.) but a pair from junior midfielder Kara Raffery (Bayshore, N.Y.) upped the margin to seven (9-2), with the two teams going into the intermission and the scoreboard showing Stevens 9, Utica 3.
 
Rafferty tallied three times in a 4-0 run to start the second half, and freshman midfielder Erika Wilcox (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) accounted for the other as the Ducks pushed their lead to 13-3. Kane scored again to make it 13-4, but the Ducks notched the final five goals for the 18-4 victory. Rafferty had three, while freshman Mackenzie Swartout (Rochester, N.Y.) and sophomore Caitlyn Hughes (Randolph, N.J.) had the other two.
 
Collins played an excellent in game in goal for Stevens, earning the win and making 10 saves in the final home contest of her career. She also scooped up one ground ball.
 
Rafferty had eight goals and one assist along with four draw controls and three ground balls, and Waybright had seven points (three goals, four assists), three draw controls and two caused turnovers. Sophomore defender Amanda Ingersoll (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) led the Stevens “D” with six ground balls and four caused turnovers, while Galligan had a goal and four ground balls. Wilcox had three points (one goal, two assists) and three draw controls, and Swartout had two goals, two helpers and a pair of draw controls.
 
Stevens ended with a 33-18 edge in shots and put 29 on goal. The Ducks had a 27-20 edge in ground balls and won 12 of the 23 draw controls.
 
The winner of the Stevens-Ithaca semifinal will battle the winner of the second-seeded St. John Fisher College vs. third-seeded Nazareth College game on Sunday for the Empire 8 title.
 
When the Ducks and Bombers met in Hoboken earlier this season, Ithaca left with a hard-fought 8-6 win in a tightly contested game.
 
More information on the Empire 8 Tournament will be posted as it is received.