It was a cold, dreary day at Kenneth P. LaValle stadium here at Stony Brook when the women’s lacrosse team took on Dolphins of Le Moyne College from upstate New York. The day ended a bit brighter and a lot less dreary as the Seawolves were able to hold off a thrilling last minute barrage by the Dolphins and win 10-9, thanks to goaltender Mickey Cahill.
With the win, the Seawolves claimed their first victory of the season and moved to 1-3 overall while Le Moyne was handed its second loss of this young season to move to 0-2.
Senior midfielders Amy Hallion, from Glenelg, Australia, and Kaitlin Leggio, from Bay Shore, NY, each tallied a hat trick, scoring six of the ten total goals on the afternoon.
Sophomore Melissa Cook had a goal and an assist on two shots. Jenna Celano got the game going for the Seawolves, scoring the first of the afternoon on her first and only free position shot. Celano is a senior attacker hailing from Farmingdale, NY.
The game was a back and forth showing for most of the afternoon. If Stony Brook would score two straight goals, Le Moyne would answer back just as quickly.
Rebekah Elmer scored first for the Dolphins at 29:40 of the first half, but Jenna Celano answered nearly eight minutes later to knot it at one with her fourth goal of the season.
Le Moyne jumped back on top four minutes later, but the Seawolves proved hardy early, scoring three unanswered goals in a span of six minutes. Two of the goals belonged to Hallion, her third and fourth of the season, and the fifth goal of the day by Leggio, putting the Seawolves up for good with her sixth of the season on a free position shot.
Stony Brook never looked back as they held the lead for the rest of the afternoon, never quite pulling away but neither did they falter to the point up giving up the lead.
Hallion notched her third goal of the day on a free position shot that was labeled past the goaltender, having no idea where that shot went.
Le Moyne would score with 28 seconds left in the first half to pull within one at 6-5.
Melissa Cook opened up the scoring for the Seawolves in the second half on a beautiful feed from Hallion. It was Cook’s third of the season.
Back to back goals by freshmen Abby Ford, from Baltimore, Md., and Jackie Hughes, from Rockville Centre, NY, gave the Seawolves their biggest lead of the day at 9-6.
Le Moyne would eventually catch up to make up the difference and remain down by one with five minutes left in the game.
Enter Mickey Cahill.
Cahill, a junior from Bay Shore and transfer from Boston College, stood tall and in the crease, stopping every shot the Dolphins threw her way in the closing minutes, including a spectacular and much-needed save off of a questionable free position shot awarded to Le Moyne with 19 seconds to go.
Minutes before, Le Moyne rang a shot off the post but it didn’t faze Cahill one bit. With a steely composure on the free shot, Cahill out-waited the attacker, forcing her to make a shot that Cahill knew she would stop.
Four seconds later, Cahill again stepped up to the challenge and made a daring save against Rebekah Elmer, whom already had recorded a hat trick and was vying for a fourth goal. Cahill denied her with a big save and preserved a 10-9 win.
Up next for the Seawolves is a trip to Marist to take on the Red Foxes on Wednesday.