April 13, 2006 Issue                                               

©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

CHC sticksters romp to first victory
by TOM UTESCHER

Jackie Conboy, a first-year defender for Chestnut Hill College, looks for an open teammate upfield.

Both the host Griffins of Chestnut Hill College and the visiting Falcons of Cedar Crest were still looking for their first win of 2006 when the two lacrosse teams met recently.

CHC easily captured the sought-after “W” in the non-conference contest, on March 27, jumping out in front, 8-0, en route to an 18-4 triumph. It was the fifth game of the season for the locals, and the seventh for still-winless Cedar Crest.

“The girls did everything well today; they marked, they communicated, they got the draw and took care of the ball,” Chestnut Hill head coach Megan McHugh stated. “We had good shots, and we stayed wide on offense instead of clogging up the middle.”

Freshman Tiffanie Stanton, a first-time lacrosse player who shows a lot of promise, galloped down the field to fire in the Griffins’ opening goal about 30 seconds into the match. Before the first minute was over, Katie Donovan had scored off an assist from Stephanie Carlyle to make it 2-0, and Chestnut Hill just kept on rolling.

Draw controls, a weakness in some earlier games, went CHC’s way in this one; the final count was 19-5. Visitor Kirsten Gustafson, who scored all four goals for the Falcons, finally got Cedar Crest on the board with 11:31 remaining in the first half. Leading 9-2 at the intermission, the hosts had already received goals from six different players (nine Griffins would score in all).

“The girls were excited all day about the game,” McHugh said, “and they came in very positive and pumped up.”

CHC sophomore Stef Paternostro found the net less than two minutes into the second half, and three more Griffin goals followed. Chestnut Hill remained in total control until the final horn.

Chestnut Hill goalie Rosie Gavin enjoyed a relatively relaxed afternoon, coming away with seven saves, while a much busier Keri McDevitt (a graduate of Mount St. Joseph Academy’s league rival St. Basil’s) recorded 21 stops in the Falcons’ cage.

Donovan and Morgan Nichols rang up six and four goals, respectively, while Carlyle and Casey Manzi accounted for two apiece. Single goals were added by Paternostro, Stanton, Kristine Kozin and Amie Simpson.

As the season progressed through the end of March and into the first full week of April, the Griffins enjoyed mixed results. They took one on the chin from Kings College, 6-25, but then rebounded with back-to-back wins on the first weekend of the new month, beating Cazenovia, 16-7, and knocking off Wells, 17-4.

The locals bowed to York College on April 4, 11-20, and lost to St. Thomas Aquinas last Friday, 8-17, giving them an overall record of 3-7. The margin in the last game could’ve been greater if not for Gavin, who made 17 saves for Chestnut Hill. In the last half-dozen games, Donovan has pumped in a total of 27 goals for the Griffins, with Carlyle adding 15 and Nichols contributing 13 during that same stretch.