Springtime is (almost) here and lacrosse has returned to the Hilltop!

The women’s team, who last year made it to the NE-10 Semifinal game, as well as played in the first round of the NCAA tournament, are looking to capitalize on that success this year. The men’s team, who made an appearance in the NE-10 Quarterfinal game, are looking to improve upon their season from last year.

The men’s team has dropped their first three games this season against Molloy College, New York Institute of Technology, and Adelphi University.

The Hawks faced off against the New York Institute of Technology’s Bears in their home opener. The game started off with the Bears scoring nine unanswered goals, however, the Hawks were able to build some momentum throughout the remainder of the game with three quick unassisted goals from sophomores Matt Johnson and Colin Swanson, and junior Ben Warren. NYIT didn’t let up on and outscored the Hawks 21-5.

After the tough home opener to #3 NYIT, the Hawks had their sights on a conference win against #4 Adelphi at Grappone Stadium on March 14. Again a shaky start for the Hawks as Adelphi put away two quick goals in the first minute and a half of play. However, because of senior James Peters hat trick and two goals from sophomore Colin Swanson, the Hawks were able to see some good in the loss to Adelphi, 16- 6. The Hawks dropped to 0-1 in conference play, while freshman goalie Lucas DeAngelo took the loss after only making one save in the first ten shots of the game. DeAngelo was relieved by junior James O’Neill, who stopped the bleeding a little bit making 10 saves on 18 shots.

Coming up for the men’s lacrosse team is two NE-10 conference games against Pace University and Bentley College, both games on the road. Their next home game is on March 28^th at 1:00 P.M. against the Assumption Greyhounds.

The women’s team is off to an amazing start to their season, with two strong wins – one against the University of Findlay on Saturday, February 28^th, and the other coming from a matchup with NE-10 conference team, Southern Connecticut State this Saturday, March 14^th.

Their season opener win against Findlay, which was played at Southern New Hampshire University, was made possible largely by the performance of senior Kaitlyn Stazinski, who had a career high of seven points throughout the game. Junior goalkeeper Jane Bunn stopped three of eight shots in the first forty minutes of the game before being relieved by freshman Zoie Covotta who made one stop in her first career appearance for the Hawks.

Some other notable Hawks goals throughout the game were scored by seniors Sarah Doherty and Marissa Daly, and by juniors Lauren Perry, Caitlin Villareal, and Erin Marshall, ending the game with a 22-8 victory. The lady Hawks carried over that success all the way to Southern Connecticut State where they crushed the conference opponent 19-5. Junior Caitlin Villareal was able to peg a career high seven goals, including the 100^th of her career, to build momentum for the team throughout all four periods. The Hawks defense was extremely successful in shutting down Southern Connecticut’s offense while junior goalie Jane Bunn only allowed two of five shots in her first half appearance. Senior Allie Ramzi took control in the second half turning away five of the eight shots.

An amazing combination of both offense and defense has the women’s lacrosse team poised for a very successful season. This week the women will face off against Adelphi in New York on Tuesday, March 17^th and return home for a game against New Haven on Sunday, March 22^nd at 1:00 PM. Cheer on both women’s and men’s lacrosse teams as they look to capitalize on their season!