PANAMA CITY BEACH, FL – The Cortland women's lacrosse team dominated from start to finish in a 20-1 rout of Wellesley on Wednesday afternoon at the Spring Fling Tournament in Panama City Beach, Florida. Cortland improves to 3-2 on the year, while Wellesley drops to 2-4 on the season.
 
Fifteen different Red Dragons recorded a goal in the victory, led by two goals and an assist each by Bella Dembinski (Holbrook/Sachem East), Brooke Elizalde (Ronkonkoma/Connetquot), and Cali Brancato (Liverpool). Ashley Melillo (Massapequa) added a goal and two assists, while Emma Dempsey (Brewerton/Paul V. Moore) scored a pair of goals.
 
Chloe Kniskern (Burnt Hills/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake), Ava Greenhut (Airmont/Suffern), Kelcey McGoldrick (Valley Cottage/Nyack), and Campbell Hewlett (Churchville/Churchville-Chili) each netted their first collegiate goals in the win, with Kniskern scoring twice and Greenhut adding a goal and an assist.
 
Hanna Lebens (Setauket/Ward Melville) and Taylor Mullins (Penn Yan/Penn Yan Academy) each finished with five draw controls, while Bri Zehr (Queensbury) had two caused turnovers.
 
Milica Simic scored the lone goal for the Blue, and Anna Blake Patrick made six saves in a quarter of action.
 
Cortland jumped out to an 8-0 lead after the first quarter of action, holding a 12-0 edge in shots on goal in the opening frame. Kristen Javenes (North Rockland) opened the scoring 1:09 into the game, and Melillo added a goal on a free-position shot just over a minute later. Dembinski and Sydney Elizalde (Ronkonkoma/Connetquot) both scored a goal before the five-minute mark of the game to lead 4-0 with 10:57 remaining.
 
Brooke Elizalde then scored two straight goals, before Kaitlyn Tietjen (Delmar/Bethlehem Central) and Dempsey completed the scoring for the first quarter for the Red Dragons.
 
Dembinski and Brancato both scored a goal early in the second period to extend the Cortland lead, before Simic finally got Wellesley on the board with a free-position goal with under five minutes left in the half. Natalie Bennett (Latham/Shaker) gave Cortland an 11-1 lead into halftime with her third goal of the season.
 
Cortland continued to build its lead coming out of halftime, with Kniskern scoring her first collegiate goal off an assist from Greenhut one minute into the period. Dempsey added her second goal of the game off a feed from Javenes, and Alyssa Leotta (Dix Hills/Half Hollow Hills West) scored her first goal of the season off an assist from Melillo to make it 14-1.
 
Cortland scored six more goals in the final period. McGoldrick opened the period with a goal only 27 seconds in, and Kniskern tallied her second goal of the game shortly after. Brancato set up Hewlett's first collegiate goal with 9:25 remaining, and Greenhut opened her goalscoring account with an unassisted goal with 7:19 remaining.
 
Brancato netted her second goal of the game in the final five minutes, before Sierra Natoli (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) wrapped up the scoring with her first goal of the season with 2:35 remaining.
 
Cortland will wrap up its Spring Break trip tomorrow against Hartwick at 2 p.m.