Catholic Makes History With NCAA Tourney Win

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - The Catholic University women's lacrosse team (16-4) continued to make program history Wednesday with an 18-7 victory over the Captains of Christopher Newport (13-6) in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. This is CUA's first appearance in the postseason event along with the first win. The Cards were led by senior Marcy Cuneo who had five goals in the game.

The Cards started strong with three goals in the first ten minutes. Kate Robinson started it off and Cuneo added a pair one from a free position and the other on an unassisted score. CNU came back quickly to make it 3-1 but Robinson fired at the 20 minute mark scoring her second of the day. The Captains put together a small run to get back in the game but from 14 minutes it was all CUA.

A 10-1 run spanning both halves sealed the victory for the Cards as the offense controlled the flow of the game and the defense continuously disrupted any attack. Kate Narzikul and Becky Borrell scored two before CNU hit their lone tally of the run. At 8:37, Laura Haring hit a goal sparking the final four of the half that included one from Robinson and another two from Cuneo making the score 10-4 at the break.

Haring started the second half as hot as the first scoring the first two goals both off of assists by Kate Robinson. Cuneo continued her dominance and finally Meg Sabo scored at 18:10 to make the score 14-4 and start the running clock on a ten-point differential.

Midway through the second, Christopher Newport looked to be gaining momentum with two scores and four draw controls in a row. However, despite the small lapse the Cardinals continued to roll finishing out the game with four goal. Two came from Katie Bitonti, one from Lindsay Davenport and the final from Lauren Sheils. At the horn the Cards had the 18-7 victory and the ticket to the next round.

Cuneo had five goals while Robinson and Haring both had three. Robinson led the squad in assists with two for a total of five points on the day. The Cards out shot the Captains 44-20 and had nine more ground balls. The difference came in the turnovers where CUA had just 13 to CNU's 22. The Cardinals had 15 caused turnovers on defense and keeper Melissa Brashear had 10 saves playing all 60 minutes in goal.

CUA will now move on to the regionals on Saturday against the winner of Rowan/Montclair State. The four-team regional will be held at Salisbury University, the Cards will play in the second game of the day at 2:30 p.m.