Moon Township, Pa. – The Robert Morris University women's lacrosse team kicked off the 2013 season with a home
contest against the Detroit Titans on Saturday afternoon. After scoring
the first seven goals of the game, the Colonials cruised to a 13-7 victory at
Joe Walton Stadium.
Less than five minutes
in to the opening half, the Colonials would strike first as Jessica Rutherford (Pylesville, Md. / North Harford) netted her first of four goals in the
contest. Just forty seconds later, Kristin Yoviene (Easton Md. / Saints Peter and Paul) would make the score 2-0 on a
free-position goal. Freshman Emily Jamison (Pittsburgh, Pa. / North Hills) would pick up her first career goal just 33
seconds later as Robert Morris would take a 3-0 lead as all three goals were
scored 73 seconds apart.
Brittany Byerly (Wexford, Pa. / Pine-Richland) would also net her first career goal on a
free-position shot to give the Colonials a 4-0 lead less than eight minutes in
to the contest. The RMU lead would increase to five as Stefany Gale (Cicero, N.Y. / Cicero-North Syracuse) also scored on a free-position shot.
A third Colonial would pick up their first career goal as freshman Corey Karwacki (Sparks, Md. / Hereford) scored an unassisted goal to make the
score 6-0 in favor of Robert Morris. RMU would go up 7-0 before the
15-minute mark of the first half as Jamison scored her second goal of the
game. Junior goaltender Kaitlin Pentz (Sykesville, Md. / Century) would go 26:52 before allowing the first
goal to Detroit, the only goal of the half for the Titans.
The Titans would open
the scoring in the second half with a goal less than 90 seconds after the
resumption of play. Rutherford would respond for the Colonials ten
seconds later with her second goal of the game to make the score 8-2. After Detroit would make the game 8-3, Rutherford would score the ninth and
tenth goals for the Colonials just 16 seconds apart. A second goal by
Byerly would give the Colonials an 11-3 lead with fifteen minutes remaining in
the game.
Detroit would collect
its fourth goal of the game before Karwacki picked up her second goal of the
game with less than ten minutes remaining in the game. The Titans would
pick up two consecutive goals to make the score 12-6 with five minutes
remaining. Coming in to relieve Pentz in the cage was senior Angelina Gasparo (Philadelphia, Pa. / Nazareth Academy) who would allow one final Detroit goal in her 5:40 of
action.
The Titans' final goal would come after Emily VanDyne (Webster, N.Y. / Webster Thomas) picked up her first goal of the season
with 3:50 remaining in the game. Neither team would score in the final
three minutes as the Colonials picked up the victory, 13-7.
Pentz would collect six
saves as she picked up her first win of the season. Byerly and Rutherford
would lead Robert Morris as each of them recorded four points in the
victory. Three freshmen – Byerly, Jamison, and Karwacki – would combine
for six goals and eight points in their first games played at Robert
Morris. Karwacki also collected a team-high 17 draw controls and seven
ground balls for the Colonials.
The Colonials will take
to the road for their first road game of the season as they travel to
Washington, D.C. next weekend. Robert Morris will play Howard at 3:00
p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 24.
