Savitcheff Scores Six in 16-5 Win for Women’s Lacrosse Over Manhattan
ALBANY, N.Y. – The University at Albany women’s lacrosse team (2-0) beat Manhattan (0-2) 16-5 on Thursday afternoon behind a six-goal performance by freshman Dakotah Savitcheff.
“I was proud of our team effort today,” said head coach John Battaglino. “We held them scoreless for the last 22 minutes of the first half, and we had seven different players score. So it was a well-rounded performance.”
UAlbany got out to a slow start, going down 2-0 to the Jaspers before Battaglino called timeout to re-group.
The Great Danes responded by going on a 10-0 run going into the end of the half. Nichole Eamer narrowed the gap to 2-1, and won the ensuing draw. Allie Phelan hit the post in an attempt to tie the game at two, but Eamer found Savitcheff for the game-tying goal moments later.
Savticheff tallied four goals in the first-half scoring rally, with assists from Rachel Bowles and Ariana Parker. Bowles and Phelan also got in on the scoring action in the first half. Sarah Martin notched her first career goal with four minutes left in the first period unassisted.
The Purple & Gold took a 25-2 shot advantage into the locker room at the break.
Manhattan scored two goals to open the second half, making the score 10-4. But UAlbany scored six straight to keep the game out of reach for the Jaspers. Bowles found Savitcheff to kick off second-half scoring for the Great Danes, and Parker scored less than one minute later unassisted.
Martin connected with Maureen Keggins on a man-up opportunity to give the Purple & Gold a 13-4 lead, before Martin scored a goal of her own unassisted shortly thereafter. Eamer and Savitcheff wrapped up scoring for UAlbany.
The Great Danes concluded the contest in Riverdale with a 17-5 advantage on draw controls, led by Kathleen Lennon with five draws. The senior also picked up five ground balls and three caused turnovers in the win.
Bowles finished with three goals and three assists. The sophomore leads UAlbany in points after two games with 15.
Savitcheff’s six goals rank tied for fifth in single-game goals in Division I program history. The only rookie to tally more goals in a game is teammate Ariana Parker, who scored seven against Hofstra in 2011.
UAlbany (2-0) returns to John Fallon Field for its first home game of 2014 against Quinnipiac (0-1) on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
