GWYNEDD VALLEY, Pa. (March 23, 2024) – For the first time this season, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy women's lacrosse team broke the 20-goal plateau as the Mariners rolled to a 22-14 victory over Gwynedd Mercy on Saturday. The win gives USMMA a 3-2 overall record on the season while the loss drops the Griffins to an 0-8 record on the year.
 
Game Link

• Box Score 

Junior midfielder Lauren Jablonowski (Levittown, N.Y.) led all players with eight points including a team-high six goals and two assists while also winning a career-high eight draw controls for the Mariners in the victory. First-year midfielder Grace Picozzi (Collegeville, Pa.) added five goals for USMMA with nine draw control victories and six ground ball pickups as junior Gianna Russo (Wake Forest, N.C.) and senior Kaitlyn Latchaw (Phoenix, Md.) both collected hat tricks in the in the win.
 
Rookie Leslie Wysong (Mount Pleasant, S.C.) and senior attacker Reagan Jetter (La Jolla, Calif.) both scored a pair of goals with an assist and sophomore attacker Emma Barnes (Chillicothe, Ohio) also had a goal for USMMA. Sophomore goalie Karianna Eagle (Little Egg Harbor Township, N.J.) made two saves in the net for the Mariners and picked up six ground balls in the win.
 
For the Griffins, Cheyenne Avellino scored six goals, caused four turnovers, and added an assist for a seven-point afternoon while Caroline Cleary also had seven points with a goal and six assists to go along with nine draw control victories. Kristin Varilla netted six goals as well for Gwynedd Mercy as Victoria Sloan stopped twelve shots for the hosts in the loss.
 
The Mariners trailed the contest by a 5-2 margin after one period of play with Varilla scoring a first-quarter hat trick for the Griffins, who would lead 7-2 after a pair of goals from Avellino in the second quarter.
 
From that point, however, the Mariners would score 20 of the next 27 goals in the game with eight of them coming in a furious second-quarter comeback. Jetter and Jablonowski each scored a pair of goals in the frame with Wysong's first tally closing the half as USMMA trailed Gwynedd Mercy by an 11-10 margin at the break.
 
In the second half of play, Jablonowski tied the score in the first minute of the third quarter and then started an eight-goal run over the final sixteen minutes of play to give the Mariners the lead for good. Russo added a pair of goals in that span, finishing her hat trick along with Latchaw netting her third marker of the game and Picozzi scoring her fifth of the contest.
 
The Mariners open Skyline Conference play on Saturday, March 30 with a noon road contest at Farmingdale State – a rematch of last year's Skyline Conference semifinal match-up that USMMA took by a 14-5 margin. Live stats and a live video feed of the game will be available with links on the USMMA Women's Lacrosse Schedule Page.
 
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