**NOTE: Recap was edited on March 27 to accommodate statistics updates**
PANAMA CITY BEACH, FL – The Cortland women's lacrosse team scored the first 13 goals of the contest, and cruised to a 17-2 victory over Hartwick in its second game at the Spring Fling Tournament in Panama City Beach, Florida on Thursday afternoon. Cortland improves to 4-2 with its third straight win, while Hartwick drops to 1-6 on the year.
Sydney Elizalde (Ronkonkoma/Connetquot) led the Red Dragons with seven points on four goals and three assists, while
Brooke Elizalde (Ronkonkoma/Connetquot) had a goal and four assists.
Bella Dembinski (Holbrook/Sachem East) chipped in three goals and an assist, while
Ashley Melillo (Massapequa) added two goals and an assist.
Three other players had two points or more, including
Kristen Javenes (North Rockland),
Campbell Hewlett (Churchville/Churchville-Chili), and
Sierra Natoli (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker). Hewlett scored twice and Javenes and Natoli added a goal and an assist apiece.
Trinity Parks (Port Crane/Chenango Forks) made seven saves in goal and did not allow a goal, and Melillo finished with four caused turnovers and
Hanna Lebens (Setauket/Ward Melville) had two caused turnovers and three draw controls.
Bridie McGuire (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor) registered four draw controls and three ground balls.
Hartwick's goals were scored by Lily Dempsey and Parker Laurin, and Jammie Decker added an assist for the Hawks. Goalkeeper Brooke Lynett made six saves in just under three quarters of action.
Cortland scored five goals each in the first and second quarters to take a 10-0 lead into halftime, and scored the first three goals of the third quarter before Hartwick was finally able to break up the shutout bid.
Sydney Elizalde scored the first two goals of the game to give Cortland a 2-0 lead after just four minutes. The Red Dragons stretched the advantage to 5-0 at the end of one frame, with a pair of goals by Melillo sandwiching Dembinski's first goal of the game.
Sydney Elizalde added Cortland's seventh and 10th goals of the game in the second quarter, while Dembinski, Natoli, and Javenes each tallied a goal in the second frame.
A goal by Dembinski, assisted by
Sydney Elizalde, only 28 seconds into the third quarter made it 11-0, before Hewlett found the back of the net off a feed from Natoli, then Melillo set up
Brooke Elizalde for her first goal of the game to make it 13-0 with 7:24 left in the frame.
After Laurin tallied a goal for Hartwick with 3:26 left,
Chloe Kniskern (Burnt Hills/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) responded with her third goal of the year to reestablish Cortland's 13-goal advantage heading into the final quarter.
Hartwick opened the scoring in the fourth quarter with 12:40 remaining, but Cortland tacked on three more goals with the running clock to secure the victory. Of the three goals, Hewlett and
Ava Greenhut (Airmont/Suffern) each tallied a free-position goal, and
Alyssa Leotta (Dix Hills/Half Hollow Hills West) scored a goal off of an assist from
Brooke Elizalde.
