Women's Lacrosse Pummels Purchase, 17-4, at Home on Thursday

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) women's lacrosse team made it back-to-back dominating victories, taking down the Purchase College (PC) Panthers, 17-4, Thursday afternoon at the USJ Lacrosse Field in West Hartford, Conn. Senior midfielder Makenzie Dinger (Hingham, Mass.) had a career day, tallying a game-high 14 points off 10 goals and four assists to fuel USJ. With the win, the Blue Jays are off to their best start in program history and improve to 4-1 overall on the year, while the Panthers fall to 0-2 on their young season with the setback.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: Purchase 4, Saint Joseph 17
Records: PC 0-2, USJ 4-1
Location: USJ Lacrosse Field | West Hartford, Conn.

USJ opened the scoring 24 seconds into the game, as Dinger found a wide-open Cayleen Defaranos (Northford, Conn.) in front of the net, who fired past the Purchase goalkeeper to give the Blue Jays the early edge. USJ continued to pile on the pressure offensively, as a solo effort from Dinger doubled the gap to 2-0 at the 10:35 mark. Dinger continued her strong start to the game, working her way near the goal before finding the corner of the net, increasing the USJ lead to 3-0 with 9:33 on the clock.

Purchase would slow down the USJ offense, making numerous stops to keep USJ from adding onto its lead. However, the Blue Jays continued to pepper shots on frame, as Defarnaos netted her second of the game after receiving a pass from junior attack Lauryn Wilks (Hartford, Conn.), increasing the lead to 4-0 at the 3:23 mark. Purchase nearly got on the scoreboard, but freshman netminder Ariel DiSanti (Agawam, Mass.) made a tremendous point-blank save, keeping the Panthers off the board. The USJ offense rewarded DiSanti as sophomore attack Cayla D'Elia (Watertown, Conn.) and Dinger netted back-to-back goals, sending USJ into the second quarter leading 6-0.

Dinger's dominance carried into the second quarter, as she set up Defaranos to increase the lead to 8-0. Purchase would pull one back though, netting their first of the game and cutting the score to 8-1 at the 13:01 mark. Dinger would fire back, reestablishing an eight-goal lead, 9-1, but the Panthers netted again, cutting the gap to 9-2 and calling a timeout with 5:45 left in the first half. Dinger would score her sixth of the game moments later, but the Panthers answered right back, sending the Blue Jays into the halftime break up, 10-3. 

The Blue Jays took full advantage of the halftime break, as Dinger netted back-to-back goals, followed by D'Elia rounding out her first career hat-trick to increase the lead to 10, 13-3, with 7:20 left in the third quarter. The Panthers appeared to score and get back within single digits, but their effort was ruled out, allowing Wilks to find the back of the net on the ensuing possession after receiving a pass from senior defense Marissa Fortuna (Burlington, Conn.), increasing the lead to 14-3 and forcing a Purchase timeout at the 3:49 mark. The goals continued to pour in for USJ, as Wilks and Dinger combined for three more goals, giving USJ a 16-3 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Purchase would find the back of the net first in the final period, using a woman-up free position opportunity, but Dinger would put the game to bed, netting her 10th goal of the game at the 3:10 mark to propel USJ to a convincing 17-4 victory.

GOALIE BREAKDOWN

PC– Casandra Schmoger picked up the loss (0-2) playing all 60 minutes in net for Purchase. Schmoger allowed 17 goals while recording 22 saves.

USJ –DiSanti made it back-to-back victories (2-0), allowing four goals while making thee saves in 53:45 minutes of play. Sophomore Abigail Delgado (Southington, Conn.) played the remaining 6:15 in net and recorded one save.

UP NEXT
The Blue Jays remain at home, welcoming Regis College for a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) matchup on Saturday, March 18. Opening draw between the Blue Jays and Pride is set for 1:00 p.m.

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