By: Aiden Locke
ROCHESTER, NY --- The Brockport women's lacrosse team falls to 1-2 after a tough 15-13 defeat against RIT. A back and forth contest doesn't end in Brockport's favor in a matchup that has been dominated by the Golden Eagles throughout program history.
Brockport entered this game 13-3 all-time vs the Tigers. Both teams entered the game 1-1 on the season. Brockport came off a loss to nationally ranked Ithaca 16-12. RIT had momentum on their side coming off a 20-8 victory over Nazareth.
RIT started off hot with a 4-0 run in the opening ten minutes of the first quarter. Those four goals came from four different players for the Tigers. Their offense operated in a slow, methodical way throughout the game. Multiple cycles through the attack and bleeding the shot clock to open up looks with lots of off-ball movement. The slow pace and constant rotation created confusion for Brockport's defense throughout the game.
Junior midfielder Alayna Foos was the spark Brockport needed early on offensively. Off a timeout she scored two goals both of which came from exposing small amounts of space in one-on-one matchups. The Golden Eagles put together a 3-0 run of their own to end the first quarter down only one.
The second quarter saw an explosion of offense. Both times combined for nine total goals. Brockport scored six of them via five different goal-scorers in the second quarter. Graduate attacker Cassidy Burnash scored two and finished with a hat-trick to bring her career total to 127. This total brings her to 7th all-time in program history. The score stood at 9-7 going into the break.
RIT clawed back at the Golden Eagles with a three-goal third quarter. Senior attacker Carrissa Hlywa opened up the second half score sheets just 2:40 into the third bagged him a close-quarters goal off a beautiful feed from sophomore midfielder Serafina Kiselgof. Hlywa finished with four goals and two assists. Kiselgof finished with three goals and two assists. That pair led RIT in point production in this matchup. Burnash capped off her hat-trick in the third quarter for Brockport.
RIT's offense took over in the fourth quarter. This was led by their domination at the draw control in the final frame. The extra possession created by RIT on the draw ended up being the difference down the stretch. RIT scored four consecutive goals to start the fourth. The four goals came by-way of four different goal scorers for RIT. Foos capped off her four goal evening in the fourth with a pin-point snipe off a pass through traffic from Burnash. First-year attacker Haley Lewkovich scored her second career goal shortly afterward to make the game 14-13 RIT. Hlywa got an insurance marker for the Tigers with just 3:01 remaining, RIT held strong to cap off the victory.
Three years running this matchup has been decided by two goals or fewer, with RIT picking up two wins over that span. Brockport turn their attention to Nazareth who will come to town on Saturday Mar. 9, first draw is scheduled for noon.
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