Women's Lacrosse Weekly Release - Week 5

Complete Women's Lacrosse Weekly Release in pdf format

Photos courtesy of Cornell and Penn Athletic Communications

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Six games into the season and the Cornell women’s lacrosse team’s offense has yet to slow down. The Big Red has scored in double-digits in all six contests in 2013, and it needed all of that scoring when it took on No. 7 Penn State and the two-time defending America East conference tournament champion Albany.

The 14th-ranked Big Red (6-0, 2-0 Ivy) took on its first ranked opponent of the season when No. 7 Penn State came to Ithaca, N.Y. The Big Red found itself trailing, 11-7 with 15 minutes remaining in the contest, before scoring four-straight goals to tie the game and send it to overtime. Junior Amanda D’Amico scored twice during that run, including the equalizer with 7:16 to go.

Senior Caroline Salisbury gave Cornell its first lead of the game in the first overtime, but the Nittany Lions tied it up with 47 seconds remaining in the period. After a scoreless second overtime, Salisbury gave her team its second lead, and the win, scoring with 1:17 to go in the third overtime.

In its next game, Cornell again found itself trailing in the second half, 12-10 with under 10 minutes left. But a five-goal run by the Big Red, including a pair by sophomore Lindsay Toppe, gave Cornell the lead it would not relinquish.

Penn (2-3, 2-0 Ivy) remained tied at the top of the League standings with Cornell thanks to a 12-8 victory over Yale (4-3, 0-2 Ivy). The Quakers had their hands full with Bulldog freshman Nicole Daniggelis, who netted six goals to become the first Yale freshman to score at least six goals in a game since 2010. Daniggelis posted 11 points on the week thanks to a four-goal, one-assist effort in a 15-9 win over Sacred Heart.

Brown (5-1, 1-1 Ivy) is off to its best start in more than 16 years and is the only other League team to have scored in double-figures in each of its games this season. That trend continued for the Bears last week, as they defeated Holy Cross, 13-4, and Quinnipiac, 16-7.

No. 13 Dartmouth (4-2, 1-0 Ivy) and Princeton (3-2, 1-0 Ivy) fell to ranked opponents, as the Big Green suffered a 13-5 setback at No. 6 Duke and the Tigers’ comeback at No. 9 Virginia came up short, 9-7.

After winnings its first game of the season, Columbia (1-5, 0-2 Ivy) has dropped its last five, including a 16-7 loss to Villanova and a 13-7 defeat at Vermont last week. Harvard (0-4, 0-2 Ivy) is still looking for its first win of the season after it fell to its third-straight ranked opponent, 16-3 at No. 4 Northwestern.

This week features a number of big games, culminating with a matchup between Cornell and Penn on Sunday that will help focus the Ivy League race. In non-conference action, Princeton will take on Rutgers on Tuesday and No. 12 Johns Hopkins on Saturday, Harvard will face Marquette on Tuesday, the Big Red will travel to face No. 3 UNC on Wednesday and Penn will host Vanderbilt on Thursday.

In other Ivy action, Columbia will host Dartmouth and Harvard will face Yale on Saturday.

CO-OFFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Cornell senior Caroline Salisbury (Middletown, Md.) and Penn senior Caroline Bunting (Wellesley, Mass.) were instrumental in their team’s undefeated performances last week as the two squads, currently tied for first in the League standings, head towards a showdown on Sunday, March 24.

Scoring six goals in two games when your team finishes with 28 might not sound like a lot, but Salisbury made each score count. Against No. 7 Penn State, Salisbury tallied her first goal of the game with 13:47 remaining in regulation to start a 4-0 run for the Big Red as it came back to send the game in overtime. After scoring in the first overtime, Salisbury’s third goal of the game proved to be the gamewinner, coming with 1:17 to go in the third extra session.

Salisbury’s late-game heroics continued against Albany, as she finished with three goals and two assists, including a score to put the Big Red up for good with 7:13 remaining in the contest. Her third goal of the game was the 75th of her career and the 100th point of her career.

Salisbury takes home her first weekly award of the season and the second of her career. She gives Cornell three-straight Player of the Week honors, the first time one team earned the honor three-consecutive weeks since Penn went back-to-back-to-back in 2009. It also marks the first time Cornell has received Offensive Player of the Week three times in one season since 2003, when Sarah Averson (March 17, April 21) and Lindsay Steinberg (May 5) received the accolades.

Salisbury’s Weekly Stats
3G, 1A, 4 Pts., 1 DC, 30.0 Shooting % vs. Penn State
3G, 2A, 5 Pts., 2 DC, 50.0 Shooting % vs. Albany

The Quakers received seven points from Bunting on three goals and four assists against Yale, and they needed each point to hold off Yale, 12-8, and remain tied with Cornell at the top of the standings. Bunting’s seven points marked a career-high and she also set a personal-best in assists.

Bunting scored two of Penn’s first three goals as it raced out to a 3-0 lead and then recorded a goal and four assists in the second half alone to help the Quakers hold on for the victory. She earns her first career Ivy League weekly award.

Bunting’s Weekly Stats
3G, 4A, 7 Pts., 2 GB, 1 CT, 42.9 Shooting % vs. Yale

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Cornell sophomore Sarah Hefner (Bel Air, Md.) gave Cornell a sweep of the weekly awards for the first time since April 26, 2010, when Jessie Steinberg shared Offensive Player of the Week and Caroline Helmer was named Defensive Player of the Week.

Hefner helped her team to a pair of wins with 15 draw controls in the two games, including a career-high and Cornell single-game record 10 against Albany. Her 10 draw controls also tied the all-time Ivy League single-game mark. Hefner tallied a goal and an assist against the Nittany Lions, as well as five draw controls, two groundballs and two caused turnovers. She earns her first career Ivy League weekly award.

Hefner’s Weekly Stats
1G, 1A, 2 Pts., 2 GB, 5 DC, 2 CT, 50.0 Shooting % vs. Penn State
1 GB, 10 DC vs. Albany

HONOR ROLL
Hana Bowers, Dartmouth (Sr., A – Old Greenwich, Conn.)
2G, 2 Pts., 1 GB, 1 DC, 1 CT, 66.7 Shooting % at Duke

Paige Cuscovitch, Columbia (Jr., M – Longmeadow, Mass.)
1A, 1 Pt., 4 GB, 1 DC, 3 CT vs. Villanova
1G, 1 Pt., 6 GB, 1 DC, 5 CT, 20.0 Shooting % at Vermont

Micaela Cyr, Harvard (Sr., M – Lexington, Mass.)
2G, 2 Pts., 2 GB, 2 DC, 66.7 Shooting % at Northwestern

Nicole Daniggelis, Yale (Fr., M – St. James, N.Y.)
4G, 1A, 5 Pts., 7 DC, 57.1 Shooting % vs. Sacred Heart
6G, 6 Pts., 1 GB, 5 DC, 50.0 Shooting % at Penn

Lucy Ferguson, Penn (So., GK – Montclair, N.J.)
1 GP-1 GS, 60:00 Mins., 8 GA, 8.00 GAA, 8 Svs., 50.0 Sv. %, 2 GB, 1-0 vs. Yale

Caroline Franke, Princeton (So., GK – Annapolis, Md.)
1 GP-1 GS, 60.0 Mins., 9 GA, 9.00 GAA, 9 Svs., 50.0 Sv. %, 1 GB, 0-1 at Virginia

Grace Healy, Brown (Jr., A – Bellport, N.Y.)
1 GB, 1 DC vs. Holy Cross
3G, 3 Pts., 6 DC, 60.0 Shooting % vs. Quinnipiac

Kacie Johnson, Columbia (Sr., A – Wilton, Conn.)
3G, 2A, 5 Pts., 3 GB, 1 DC, 3 CT, 37.5 Shooting % vs. Villanova
4G, 4 Pts., 1 GB, 44.4 Shooting % at Vermont

Kelly Roddy, Brown (So., GK – Poway, Calif.)
1 GP-1 GS, 52:10 Mins., 2 GA, 2.30 GAA, 6 Svs., 75.0 Sv. %, 1-0 vs. Holy Cross
1 GP-1 GS, 52:35 Mins., 5 GA, 5.71 GAA, 4 Svs., 44.4 Sv. %, 3 GB, 1-0 vs. Quinnipiac

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Tuesday, March 19
Columbia at New Hampshire, 2pm
Princeton at Rutgers, 3 pm
Harvard at Marquette, 4 pm
No. 13 Dartmouth at Davidson, 6 pm

Wednesday, March 20
No. 14 Cornell at No. 3 UNC, 7 pm

Thursday, March 21
Vanderbilt at Penn, 2:30 pm

Friday, March 22
USC at Brown, 5 pm

Saturday, March 23
*No. 13 Dartmouth at Columbia, 1 pm
*Yale at Harvard, 1 pm
No. 12 Johns Hopkins at Princeton, 1 pm

Sunday, March 24
*No. 14 Cornell at Penn, 1 pm

KEY
*-Ivy League contest