KEUKA HOLDS OFF EXPRESS FOR SECOND STRAIGHT NEAC CHAMPIONSHIP

Aurora, N.Y.-  Brandy Shafer (Rochester, N.Y./Eastridge)  tallied seven goals to lead No. 2 seed Keuka College Storm to a thrilling, 15-14, upset victory over No. 1 seed Wells College Express in the North Eastern Athletic Conference women's lacrosse championship on Sunday afternoon in Aurora, N.Y. This is the second straight year that the Storm has won the NEAC title. Shafer earned tournament MVP honors, scoring a total of 13 goals throughout the championship. With the victory Keuka improves to 9-5 overall, 8-1 in the NEAC, while the Express fall to 8-8, 7-2 in the NEAC.

Adding to Shafer's big day, the Storm received one goal and four assist from Laura Dougherty (Geneva, N.Y./Geneva), two goals from Jennifer Bush (Endwell, N.Y./Maine-Endwell), a goal and an assist from Courtney Potochniak, while Trista Partridge (Bath, N.Y./Haverling), Kayla McLachlan (Schenectady, N.Y./Guilderland) , Brittany Murray (Heuvelton, N.Y./Heuvelton), and Chelsea DeGroote (Canandaigua, N.Y./Marcus Whitman) all tallied one goal to round out the scoring. Molly Hogan (Horseheads, N.Y./Horseheads) earned the win between the pipes with eight saves.

Emily Lotkowictz (Skaneateles, N.Y./Skaneateles) led five Express scorers with five goals and two assists. Sarah Allen (Clay, N.Y./Cicero-North) added three goals and one assist, Eleanor Eshenour (Waterloo, N.Y./Waterloo) finished with two goals and two assist, Madeline Bass (Lemon Grove, Calif./Helix) finished with three goals, Stefanie Miller (Barton, N.Y./Tioga) chipped in with one goal, while Anna Breard (Biddeford, Maine/Biddeford) added an assist to round out the scoring for Wells. Elizabeth Barclay (Laporte, Pa./Lincoln Academy) finished the day with 17 saves in the loss.

The Storm held the edge in every major statistical category including shots (42-25), groundballs (30-17), and draw controls (20-7), while forcing 16 Wells turnovers to their 11.

Wells took advantage early, scoring on two free position shots to go along with a goal by Lotkowictz for a 3-1 lead six minutes into the game. The Storm answered back with goals from Shafer and Murray to tie the game, 3-3 at the 13:53 mark.

Lotkowictz responded for the Express scoring on a free position shot and assisting on a goal by Allen for a 5-3 edge. The Storm picked things up towards the end of the half as goals by Shafer, DeGroote, and Dougherty, with less than two minutes remaining, sent Keuka into the locker room with a 6-5 lead.

The Express came out firing to start the second half, going on a 6-1 run as Wells built their biggest lead of the day, 11-7 with 22 minutes to play.

The Storm rallied back, scoring seven goals in a 10 minute span to take a 14-12 lead with 8:55 to play. Bass pulled the Express to within one, 14-13, at 23:33 but Shafer took advantage of an Express penalty, scoring exactly one minute later to extend the Storm lead to 15-13. Allen notched a goal for the Express less than a minute later but Wells would be unable to find the equalizer as the Storm held on for the win.

Keuka College will now play North Atlantic Conference Champion Husson University (11-1-1, 6-0 NAC) on May 1^st at Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vt.

Beginning with the 2010 season, North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) members Cazenovia, College of St. Elizabeth, Keuka, Medaille, Penn State - Abington, SUNY Morrisville, Wells, and Wilson will play as associate members of the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) in a West Division.  Each division will hold a championship and the two divisional champions will meet to determine the conference champion.