MARCY, N.Y. – A spectacular season came to a close Tuesday afternoon for the SUNYIT Women's Lacrosse Team. The Wildcats, who qualified for the NEAC Tournament in just their second season as a program, were defeated by Cazenovia 11-6.
SUNYIT looked good in the first half, battling Cazenovia to a 5-5 tie. Laura Tolbert (Cicero, N.Y. / Cicero-North Syracuse) netted two goals in the first 30 minutes, as did Jenna Lashua (Heuvelton, N.Y. / Heuvelton).
In the second half though the visitors clamped down on defense. Cazenovia goalie Christina Marra made a variety of great stops, finishing the game with 9 saves, and Kim Vrigian limited SUNYIT's offensive attempts by racking up a game-high 7 draw controls.
Vrigian had a great day offensively as well, scoring 3 goals and dishing out 3 assists, while Cazenovia attacker Alicia Priest led all scorers with 4 goals.
With the win Cazenovia will advance to play Keuka in the NEAC semifinals on Saturday, May 4th.
For their part, the Wildcats took a huge step forward in 2013, improving on their 4 wins from a season ago by going 6-10 on the year, including a very impressive 5-4 conference record. Luckily for the Wildcats, all three of the team's top goal scorers will be back next year, including leading scorer Tolbert, who is only a first-year.