CLINTON, NY -- The Union College women's lacrosse team is back in the Liberty League Championship Game, and for the third straight year, the Dutchwomen will face Hamilton. #7 Union defeated #16 William Smith, 10-5 Friday at Hamilton, and will take on the #4 ranked Continentals Saturday at 2 p.m. for the league title and automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Playoffs.
Freshman attack Kristin Joyce (Longmeadow, MA) scored three goals and senior midfielder Keri Messa (Saratoga Springs, NY) tallied twice and assisted on two others to lead the Dutchwomen to a second victory over the Herons in eight days. The Dutchwomen outshot the Herons, 32-16, including 17-7 in the first half, and won 14 of the 17 draw controls.
The Dutchwomen got on the board first, 7:12 into the first half, as freshman Chelsea Charette (South Hadley, MA) scored her 31st of the year on a free position shot. Just 25 seconds later, Caitlin Cuozzo (Norfolk, MA) also coverted on a free position shot for her 20th of the year and with 20:09 left, Messa took a pass from Allie Cuozzo (Norfolk, MA) to notch #29. Joyce scored unassisted tallies with 18:44 and 7:43 remaining and the Dutchwomen had a 5-0 lead at halftime. Union forced 13 Heron turnovers in the first 30 minutes.
Sarah Goodkind got a pass from Michaela Parnell with six minutes elapsed in the second stanza to put William Smith on the board. But Union got it back 1:48 later on Allie Cuozzo's 23rd of 2008. Joyce completed the hat trick with her 43rd goal of the year, the second most in the Liberty League, coming with 21:28 remaining. Messa found Abbey Stohler (West Hartford, CT) in front at 17:07 for a 8-1 lead, but Molly Fitzgerald notched #39 on a free position at 13:43. Union's Steph Egizi (Westwood, MA) got the lead back to seven at 9-2 from Messa with 13:29 left. Davidson fed Rachel Stahl at 9:30 for Stahl's 33rd of the year with 9:30 left, and Messa scored her 30th at 7:49 for a 10-3 lead. The Herons got goals from Fitzgerald (40th) and Michaela Parnell in the final 3:47.
Union goaltender Cat Ruggiero (Huntington, NY) improved to 4-0 with 10 saves in the Dutchwomen nets. Starting goaltender Becky Josefiak took the loss, with nine stops in just under 43 minutes, while Morgan Baird made one save in the final 17:07. Both teams had 15 ground balls on the day and William Smith had 16 fouls and 19 total turnovers to Union's 13 fouls and 20 turnovers.
Messa now has 37 assists on the season, continuing to add to her single season school record. She has 72 assists in her career, which now ranks second all time at Union to Nina Mandel (84). Messa passed former teammate Molly Flanagan (71) with her assist on Egizi's goal. Messa and Caitlin Cuozzo now each have 148 career points, which ties them with former teammate Kathy Dolezal, for eighth all-time.
Hamilton defeated Union, 10-7 on April 12 in Clinton and won last year's title game over Union, 10-5. The Continentals have a 19 game home winning streak after defeating St. Lawrence in the other semi final Friday, 19-4. The Dutchwomen won the league title vs. Hamilton at William Smith in 2006.
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