KINGS POINT, N.Y. (April 20, 2024) – Six seniors tallied goals on Senior Day as the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy women's lacrosse team completed a perfect regular season home schedule with a 19-0 victory over Purchase on Saturday at Brooks Stadium. The win puts the Mariners firmly in the driver's seat for the Skyline Conference regular-season championship, with USMMA sitting at 10-2 overall and 7-0 in league play. Purchase falls to 1-11 on the season with the loss, sporting an 0-6 record in Skyline games.
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Junior Gianna Russo (Wake Forest, N.C.) had four goals and six points on the afternoon in the win, accumulating seven ground balls and causing two turnovers. Senior attacker Kaitlyn Latchaw (Phoenix, Md.) cobbled together a five-point game with a hat trick and two assists along with five caused turnovers and five ground balls. Meanwhile, junior attacker Lauren Jablonowski (Levittown, N.Y.) played the role of distributor for Merchant Marine in the win by dishing out a game-high five assists for a five-point afternoon. Senior Reagan Jetter (La Jolla, Calif.) posted a hat trick with six ground balls, five caused turnovers and three draw controls while classmates Kristy Nilsson (Key West, Fla.), Caroline Collins (Sayville, N.Y.), Nicole Stafanick (Livonia, Mich.) and Annie Hood (Alexandria, Va.) all collected their first career collegiate goals for the Mariners. Rookie Leslie Wysong (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) nabbed a hat trick and an assist for a four-point game while classmate Grace Picozzi (Collegeville, Pa.) had two goals and an assist to go along with ten draw control victories.
Fellow seniors Hannah Newsom (Sulphur Springs, Texas) and Isabelle Auger (Reno, Nev.) provided key help in the offensive end to keep Purchase's defensive unit on its heels for the entire game while sophomore attacker Emma Barnes (Chillicothe, Ohio) posted two ground balls in the contest. Additionally, sophomores Keira Collins (Sayville, N.Y.) and Nicole Nagengast (Seaford, N.Y.) provided strong defensive work to stop the chances that Purchase did have in the contest. Goalie Karianna Eagle (Little Egg Harbor Township, N.J.) stopped all four shots that found their way to cage while also picking up a ground ball in earning the victory.
While the visiting Panthers had zero goals on the scoreboard, Julieth Velasquez led the team with six draw control victories on the day. Goalie Amani Jamal made eight saves for Purchase while also collecting eight ground balls and causing three turnovers in the contest.
Latchaw opened the contest with the first two goals of an 11-goal first quarter as the Mariners held a 5-0 lead through the game's opening five minutes. The senior finished with an opening-frame hat trick as did Russo while Jetter, Picozzi, Stafanick, and Wysong all added tallies through the first fifteen minutes. Collins and Hood scored their first career collegiate goals in the second quarter as USMMA led 14-0 at the halftime break, with Nilsson tabulating her first career goal in the final minutes of the third quarter.
Prior to the contest, the USMMA women's lacrosse team and athletic department honored its eight graduating seniors: Auger, Caroline Collins, Hood, Jetter, Latchaw, Newsom, Nilsson, and Stafanick. KP will close out the 2024 regular season on Saturday, April 27 with a road contest at Manhattanville. First draw is set for noon. 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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