March 28, 2009
Box Score | Photo Gallery 
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Defending Patriot League champion Colgate outscored Navy 6-1 in the first half and used a stifling defensive effort to earn a 10-4 victory over the Midshipmen women Saturday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
Colgate has now won seven of its last eight games and remains perfect with a 3-0 conference mark, while Navy drops its second straight contest to fall to 6-3 overall and 2-1 in the Patriot League.
"We have a lot of respect for Colgate. They are a strong, seasoned group and they certainly showed why they are the team-to-beat in the Patriot League," said Navy head coach Cindy Timchal. "The effort was there today, but again our struggles in the clearing game really held us back. We came out in the second half and fought hard for the full 30 minutes, but after the first half they had - it was just too big hole for us to climb out of.
"Against a team like Colgate, you really need to take advantage of every opportunity they give you. We definitely had our chances throughout the day, but we just couldn't finish when we needed to."
Junior attacker Brie Moran scored all three of her goals in the opening half and senior captain Molly Carroll added a pair of markers as the visiting Raiders took control of the contest with a dominant first 30 minutes. Moran put Colgate on the scoreboard at the 23:56 mark and then Carroll followed with back-to-back unassisted tallies as part of a game-opening 4-0 run.
The Navy attack was held at bay for a nearly 20-minute stretch to start the game before freshman teammate Dani Vivonetto (Rocky Point, N.Y.) stopped the bleeding with a goal with 10:54 to play.
Moran, a first-team All-Patriot League selection in 2008 and the conference's third-leading scorer this spring (36 g, 7 a), responded with goals at the 7:29 and 2:36 marks to complete the hat trick and push the lead to five headed into the break.
Navy would strike first in the second half as junior standout Erin Rawlick (Forest Hill, Md.) extended her consecutive goal-scoring streak to 26 games on a free-position tally just 1:47 into the period.
The Mids were unable to capitalize on the early score and the Raiders reeled off the next three goals to stake themselves to a commanding 9-2 advantage.
Vivonetto added back-to-back scores for Navy to cut the deficit to five with 9:07 left in regulation, but the Mids would draw no closer and Colgate would add a late tally to create the final margin.
On the final scoresheet, shots (Colgate, 20-18), draw controls (Navy, 8-7), ground balls (16-16) and turnovers (20-20) were all almost identical. Throughout the afternoon, however, the Mids struggled to clear the ball and settle into their offensive sets, converting 9-of-15 clear attempts to the Raiders' 17-of-19 clip.
Long Island native Dani Vivonetto paced the Mids with her third career hat trick. She has opened her career with goals in seven consecutive games and now has 15 on the season. Rawlick, Navy's only other scorer, added her team-leading 24th goal, while collecting a team-high four draw controls and three ground balls. Freshman Elaina Ponchione (Silver Spring, Md.) stopped 10 shots in the cage for the Mids.
The Mids will be back in action on Wednesday afternoon (April 1), when they make the short trip to Washington, D.C. to take on league foe American. Game time is schedule for a 3:30 p.m. start.
Notes: The game was televised nationally on the CBS College Sports Network ... Colgate and Navy were respectively picked No. 1 and No. 2 in the Patriot League Preseason Poll ... the game featured seven of the conference's top-10 scorers ... the four goals was Navy's lowest scoring output in school history (the Mids' previous low of 10 - came three times, most recently in a road win at Holy Cross ... sophomore Lexi Dauernheim made her first career start and produced her second career assist.
### GO NAVY! ##
