Feb. 21, 2010
Box Score
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Danielle Vivonetto (So., Rocky Point, N.Y.) matched her career-high with six goals on eight shots as the Navy women's lacrosse team improved to 4-0 with a 17-10 victory over Longwood (0-2) on Sunday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
Kathy Young (Fr., Berwyn, Pa.) added three goals and two assists, while team captain Erin Rawlick (Sr., Forest Hill, Md.) contributed four points (3 g, 1 a) for a Navy attack which displayed strong balance with eight different goal scorers.
The win was the No. 30 for the Navy women's lacrosse program in just its 39th varsity contest. It also avenges the Mids'14-13 setback last spring in Farmville, Va. Moreover. Navy has now won five-straight and seven of its last eight home games and boasts a 22-3 (.880) all-time in Annapolis.
"After splitting with them over the past two season, we knew Longwood was going to come in here and play us tough," said Navy head coach Cindy Timchal. "I thought we struggled a bit on the draw circle as well as on our clears in the first half. We improved in both of those areas over the last 30 minutes and I thought that was an important factor in today's win.
"We again displayed terrific balance on the offensive end received a number of outstanding individual performances from Dani (Vivonetto), Kathy (Young) and Erin (Rawlick), among others."
Navy opened the contest with four unanswered goals, building a lead the Mids would never relinquish on the afternoon. Rawlick got things started with a pair of unassisted goals in the opening 12 minutes.Goals from Katrina Nietsch (So., New Canaan, Conn.) and Vivonetto pushed the lead to 4-0 by the 14:21 mark.
Longwood was stymied early and often by Navy netminder Elaina Ponchione (So., Silver Spring, Md.), who made six first-half saves, but managed to get onto the scoreboard on an eight-meter goal from Page Farmer with 12:29 left to play in the half.
A pretty give-and-go between Rawlick and Caitlin Mandrin Hill (So., Annapolis, Md.) resulted in Mandrin Hill's fourth goal of the year just 36 seconds later restoring Navy's four-goal advantage. Longwood would answer with back-to-back goals from Morgan Illian (the latter with 10:01 left in the period) and threatened to cut the deficit to one, but Cara O'Brien's free-position shot was stopped by Ponchione on one of three saves on eight-meter attempts in the period.
Ponchione's effort proved to be an important swing for Navy, as it took over possession and quickly scored on a transition goal from rookie Claire Olechowski (Annapolis, Md.) to make it a 6-3 game. The Lancers responded quickly with a goal at the 7:24 mark, but two Navy goals in a 19-second span would send the Mids into the break with an 8-4 lead.
Kierstin King (So., Upperco, Md.) snuck into the offensive zone unmarked and scored her first goal of the year off a feed from Nietsch with 4:33 left to play. After controlling the ensuing draw, King found Vivonetto with a long, lofting pass and Navy's talented finisher used a nice spin move to get to the cage and bury her second goal of the contest.
The two teams produced 13 shots apiece, while Navy converted just 5-of-9 clear attempts and picked up just two ground balls to the Lancers' seven in the first 30 minutes.
Out of the break, Longwood would strike first with back-to-back tallies just 48 seconds apart to cut the Navy lead to 8-6 with 27:09 to play.
The Mids would begin to buckle down, however, and answered with a flurry of their own, scoring seven of the contest's next eight goals (including a 5-0 spurt over a 3:38 span which ended at the 21:51 mark) to take a commanding 15-7 lead midway through the period. Vivonetto and Young combined for five goals during the decisive run, which saw the Lancers muster just one goal during a nearly 18-minute span of action.
Longwood produced three unanswered goals to cut into the lead at 15-10 with 7:01 left in regulation, but that would be all scoring on the afternoon for the Lancers, who fell to 0-2 on the season.
Navy would add a pair of late scores from Vivonetto, who missed last year's contest against Longwood with an injury, to create the final margin. The Long Island native has now scored at least three times every game this season and with 16 goals, she has already amassed more than half of her freshman year scoring output (she had 31 goals in 16 games last spring).
Navy finished with narrow advantages in shots (29-25) and draw controls (15-14). The visiting Lancers, meanwhile, held the upperhand in ground balls (17-12) and cleared the ball at a higher clip on the afternoon than the Mids (81.8-64.7). After a tough first half clearing the ball, however, Navy was successful on 6-of-8 tries over the final 30'. Ponchione finished with eight saves in collecting her fourth victory of the season.
The Mids take to the road for the first time this season on Saturday, February 27 at Davidson in a 1:00 pm contest. Navy and Davidson have split their first two meetings, with both teams winning at home.
# GO NAVY! #
