Moon Township, Pa. ? The Robert Morris University women's lacrosse team registered its first home victory of the season this afternoon with a 9-7 win over Long Island University in a Northeast Conference match-up at Joe Walton Stadium. The victory snaps a five-game home losing skid and gives the Colonials their first over the Blackbirds in program history.
Sophomore Missy Sunseri (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Mt. Lebanon) captained the offense with two goals and two assists. Juniors Emily Tomlinson (Springfield, Va. / West Springfield) and Jenn Collins (Edgewater, Md. / South River) tallied three points apiece with Tomlinson netting two goals and an assist and Collins picking up a score and two helpers.
Juniors Ashley Levering (Glenwood, Md. / Glenelg) and Kara Blakeley (Gibsonia, Pa. / Pine Richland), sophomore Ali Gibbons (Candia, N.H. / Manchester) and freshman Courtney Bertolone (Farmingville, N.Y. / Sachem East) finished with a goal each.
Falling behind, 3-1, early in the game, the Colonials (4-9, 3-3 NEC) came back with a seven-goal run to take an 8-3 lead into halftime. Scores by Tomlinson and Collins 16 seconds apart at 13:48 and 13:32 tied the game at 3-3, while a goal from Blakeley at 11:46 would give the team a 4-3 advantage. Sunseri contributed with back-to-back tallies at 10:54 and 8:30, followed by markers from Bertolone and Levering at 7:33 and 3:54 to boast the lead to five heading into break.
Long Island broke out of its scoring drought with three consecutive scores to start the second half. Christina Wienckowski added her third goal of the match to jumpstart the Blackbird run that used up nearly 14 minutes of the frame.
Gibbons would snap the streak with her seventh of the season at 14:16. Shortly after the goal, both teams were forced to vacate the field due to lightning and wait nearly 82 minutes before returning.
Despite the storm, Robert Morris would put a lid on the game over the final 11 minutes, holding the ball in the Blackbirds offensive zone and limiting them to one score.
Sophomore Erica Webb (Arnold, Md. / Broadneck) picked up her third win of the season with one save over 60 minutes of play.
RMU held the advantage in shots (27-13), ground balls (19-17) and draw controls (11-8).
Robert Morris returns to action when the Colonials host NEC rival Monmouth on Sunday, April 13 at 1:00 p.m.
