ELMIRA HOLDS OFF LATE EXPRESS RALLY

ELMIRA, N.Y. – The Wells College women's lacrosse team was unable to comeback from an eight goal first half deficit as the Elmira College Soaring Eagles held off a late Express rally to earn an 18-10 victory on Wednesday evening in Elmira. With the loss the Express fall to 0-4 while the Soaring Eagles improve 6-1.

Sarah Allen (Cicero, N.Y.) paced the Express with four goals, Madeline Bass (Lemon Grove, Calif.) tallied three goals and a team leading seven groundballs, Courtney Grosser (Penfield, N.Y.) finished with two goals and two assists, and Lindsey Guzewicz (Auburn, N.Y.) chipped in with one goal to round out the scoring for the Express. Bethane Wright (Weedsport, N.Y.) finished with nine saves in goal for Wells.

The Soaring Eagles came out flying in the first half scoring five goals in less than five minutes of play to take a 5-0 lead. Allen put the Express on the board off a pass from Savannah Tucker (Rochester, N.Y.) to cut the lead to four (5-1) but, Elmira continued to pressure, tallying three more goals to take a commanding 8-1 lead.

Bass scored two straight goals for Wells with an Elmira score sandwiched in between to cut the lead to six (9-3), however, Elmira came back again with three straight goals for a 12-3 lead. Goals by Allen and Guzewicz pulled the Express to within seven (12-5), but a free position shot by Elmira with 10-seconds to play in the half gave Elmira the 13-5 lead at the break.

Elmira scored the first three goals to open the second half, but the Express would refuse to give in, scoring five straight goals to cut the lead to six (16-10) with 3:19 to play. The two teams played even over the next 90 seconds until Elmira sealed the victory with two late goals to earn the 18-10 win.

Meghan pass led the Soaring Eagles with a total of five points (4g, 1a), Rory Donahue chipped in with two goals and two assists, while Samantha Risi finished with three goals to round out the highlights for Elmira.

Elmira held a 59-33 advantage in ground balls, while finishing 11-14 on the clear while the Express finished 13-23 on the clear.

The Express return to action on Saturday when they take on Lancaster Bible College at 12 p.m. in Aurora.