Big First Half Helps Wilkes Women's Lacrosse Take Down Mount Saint Vincent
EDWARDSVILLE, PA – The Wilkes University women's lacrosse team led 7-1 at halftime and added three more goals in the second half on their way to a 10-6 victory over the College of Mount Saint Vincent Dolphins on Thursday afternoon at Schmidt Stadium.
The win improves the Colonels to 6-2 overall while dropping the Dolphins to 2-2.
Wilkes got on the board early in this one as Ashley Burkhardt (Havre de Grace, MD/Havre de Grace) scored at the 26:59 mark to give the home team a 1-0 lead. Less than a minute later, Domenica Lerch (Northampton, PA/Northampton) put one past the Dolphins goalkeeper to give Wilkes a 2-0 advantage just under four minutes into the game.
Allyson Joly (Lincoln, RI/Tilton) continued the Colonels quick start with a tally at the 23:34 mark.
The Wilkes offense quieted down for a little while before Burkhardt scored again with 10:44 left in the first half to stretch the lead to 4-0.
The Dolphins found the back of the net for the first time 40 seconds later but Kyra Boccio (Dingmans Ferry, Pa./Delaware Valley) responded with her first of the game at the 9:18 mark. A couple minutes later, Boccio found Lerch for her second of the game to make it a 6-1 Colonels advantage.
Boccio scored another goal with 4:26 remaining until halftime to send Wilkes to the break up 7-1.
Mount Saint Vincent took advantage of a man-up situation early in the second half to make it 7-2 but Boccio scored the next two goals of the game to extend the Wilkes lead to seven at 9-2 with 9:14 left in regulation.
With time ticking away, the Dolphins started to play with a sense of urgency as a couple goals off free positions during man-up situations pulled them to within four at 9-5 with 5:47 remaining.
A little over two minutes later, Sierra Duman (Smyrna, DE/Smyrna) picked the right time to score her only goal of the game as Laura Singleton (Pittston, PA/Pittston Area) caught a high shot from a free position behind the net and quickly passed it to Duman who snuck it by the Dolphins goalkeeper to stop the Dolphins 3-0 run.
Mount Saint Vincent scored one more time but the Wilkes defense forced a couple turnovers in the waning seconds to hold on for a 10-6 victory.
Boccio led the navy and gold with five points on four goals and one assist while Lerch and Burkhardt scored two goals each. Goalkeeper Sarah Carlini (Collegeville, PA/Pope John Paul II) made 12 saves to pick up her sixth win of the season.
The Colonels will get a well-deserved break before their MAC Freedom opener versus King's College, next Wednesday, April 3rd at 5:00 p.m. at Schmidt Stadium.
