Lacrosse Edges St. Mary's, 10-8

The Central Connecticut lacrosse team defeated St. Mary's, 10-8, on Saturday afternoon.  The Blue Devils (3-4) used a 4-0 run to break a 1-1 tie and pull away from the Gaels (2-8) early in the first half.  Junior Betsy Vendel finished the game with four goals and an assist. 

Senior Ashley Perkoski got the Blue Devils on the board first with a pass to sophomore Amanda Toke.  Toke scored the opening goal on a nice catch and shoot play in front of the net.

The Gaels answered four minutes later with a score by Caroline Mahony.

Following that score, Central scored four straight goals to take a 5-1 lead.  Vendel contributed to all four of the goals. 

Vendel scored the first goal off an assist from classmate Mackenzy Ryan.  Vendel then turned it around, feeding junior Meaghan McCurry for the score.  Vendel followed that with an unassisted goal before taking a pass from senior Ashley Mara and putting it past the goalkeeper.

Amanda Cross netted a goal for the Gaels, but the Blue Devils rallied to put in a pair of goals to end the period.

McCurry scored her second goal of the game with the help of senior Cara Momnie and Perkoski helped Ryan score her first of the game to close the period.

In the second half, St. Mary's made a furious comeback as the Gaels scored six times while limiting the Blue Devils to three goals.

Perkoski scored with the help of Mara to make it an 8-2 game less than eight minutes into the second half.

The Gaels scored three times to cut Central's lead to 8-5, before the Blue Devils answered with a free position goal by Mara.

Another three goals by St. Mary's cut the lead to 9-8 with just minutes to play.  With the Gaels pressing the Blue Devil attackers, Vendel was able to cut to the goal and score on the empty net thanks to a well placed pass by Mara.  That goal with just 1:16 left in the game gave the Blue Devils the 10-8 victory.

Mara played well on both ends of the field for the Blue Devils.  She posted a goal, three assists, three ground balls, three draw controls and four caused turnovers.

Senior Erin DeLancey made 12 saves in the goal to earn her third win of the season.  DeLancey allowed less than 10 goals in a start for the fourth time this season.

The Blue Devils return to action on Friday against LIU Brooklyn at Arute Field.