MARCY, N.Y. – On a night that honored seniors Caitlin Cottell (Eatontown, N.J. / Red Bank Catholic) and Thalia Irizarry (Manhasset, N.Y. / Manhasset), the Wildcats gave a performance worthy of fanfare.
After giving up three straight goals to start the game to Cazenovia attacker Alicia Priest, the Wildcats stormed back with a 6-0 run, forcing a Cazenovia timeout.
During the stretch the SUNYIT offense was as good as it's been all year, as the Wildcats showed off their passing by recording assists on four straight goals. Of course, fittingly it was Cottell who got the Wildcats off the schneid. The senior scored the team's first goal, unassisted, with 21:50 remaining in the first half, and finished with 2 scores on the day.
Cazenovia came back to tie the score at 8 heading into the half, but SUNYIT stormed out of the gate in the second by scoring the second period's first 4 goals.
Kim Vrigian responded with a goal for Cazenovia at the 14:27 mark, but the ensuing draw control win for the Wildcats precipitated perhaps the most important stretch of the game. With a 12-9 lead SUNYIT went into a stall – the call by head coach Erynn Anderson seemed to pay off, as the Wildcats milked nearly 7 minutes off the clock, and topped it off by scoring their 13th and final goal on a great pass from Cottell to Laura Tolbert (Cicero, N.Y. / Cicero-North Syracuse).
Almost lost amongst the play of the game's two seniors (Irizarry picked up a team-high 4 groundballs on the night) was Tolbert – the first-year had a huge game, scoring a game-high 7 goals.
After finishing out their home schedule on a high note, the Wildcats will now hit the road for their final two games. First up is St. Elizabeth this Saturday; game time is set for 1:00 pm.