Blackbirds Claim Road Win at Binghamton, 17-13

(box score)

4/19/07-- The Long Island women’s lacrosse team used a run of five-straight goals in the second half to pull away from Binghamton and claim a 17-13 win at the East Gym Complex. Senior Jackie McCormick (Liverpool, N.Y.) led the offense with five goals on the day, giving her 102 scores for her career. Senior Amy Rizzo (Jackson, N.J.) chipped in with four goals and four assists to help LIU pick up its first road win of the year.

Long Island (6-10, 3-4 NEC) got off to a slow start, falling behind Binghamton 3-0 at the 25:17 mark. McCormick got LIU on the board at 25:01 to make it 3-1, before Leanne Musso added the Bearcats’ fourth goal. The Blackbirds got within a goal after McCormick and freshman Christie Wienckowski (Newton Square, Pa.) tallied unassisted efforts. Binghamton responded with back-to-back goals from Danielle Edwards to go ahead 6-3, just nine minutes into the game.

Rizzo got the Blackbirds’ offense rolling by setting up the next three goals, before scoring one of her own to cap a 4-0 LIU run. McCormick started the spurt, followed by scores from freshman Kristina Scheerer (West Chester, Pa.) and sophomore Allison Funk (Lumberton, N.J.), which were all set up by Rizzo. LIU took a 7-6 lead with 12 seconds left in the half after Rizzo tallied her first score of the day. The Bearcats managed to tie the game, however, as Kelsey Pieper scored as time expired to make it 7-7 at the half.

After a goal by Scheerer opened the second half, Binghamton (1-12, 0-5 America East) rattled off three goals, including two from Leanne Musso, to take a 10-8 lead. McCormick got LIU back within a goal with 23:58 to play, before the Bearcats answered just 11 seconds later.

Long Island took control from there though, rattling off an 8-2 run to close the game. Scheerer started the streak with her third goal of the game, before Rizzo added to more with 30 seconds of each other to make it 12-11 with 16:08 to play. Funk followed with an unassisted goal, before Rizzo tacked on another to make it 14-11.

The Bearcats finally ended the spurt with a goal at the 4:52 mark to make it 14-12, but Scheerer helped pad LIU’s cushion, first setting up a goal by freshman Elise Victoria (Baltimore, Md.) before netting another goal of her own to make it 16-12. McCormick tacked on her fifth of the day with 1:49 to play, making it 17-12 in favor of the Blackbirds. Binghamton tallied a goal with 43 seconds left for the final margin.

LIU held a 40-34 shot advantage, with sophomore Kimberly Campbell (Malvern, Pa.) making 11 saves and nine groundballs in the win. McCormick added seven groundballs as well for LIU.

The Blackbirds close out the regular season on Sunday, April 22, with a 4:00 p.m. game against Monmouth at LIU Field.