PLATTSBURGH, NY – The Cortland women's lacrosse team scored the first ten goals of the game, and cruised to a 17-3 road win at Plattsburgh in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) action on Saturday afternoon. The Red Dragons are now 6-3 (2-0 SUNYAC), while the Cardinals drop to 1-7 (0-3 SUNYAC) with the defeat. 
 
Four different Red Dragons registered four or more points in the game. Emma Dempsey (Brewerton/Paul V. Moore) scored five goals and added an assist. Sydney Elizalde (Ronkonkoma/Connetquot) added two goals and three assists, while Brooke Elizalde (Ronkonkoma/Connetquot) chipped in a goal and three assists. Ashley Melillo (Massapequa) finished with three goals and an assist for Cortland. 
 
Lexi Caron (Manlius/Fayetteville-Manlius) led the Cortland defense with three caused turnovers, while Rachel Rempe (Aquebogue/Riverhead) posted six draw controls. Trinity Parks (Port Crane/Chenango Forks) made one save over the first three quarters to earn the victory in goal. 
 
Plattsburgh's Aimee Lieman stopped 17 saves in goal for the Cardinals, and Cynthia Barnosky finished with a goal and an assist. 
 
Bella Dembinski (Holbrook/Sachem East) opened the scoring for the Red Dragons just 35 seconds into the first quarter. For Dembinski, it was the third time this season that she scored Cortland's opening goal of the contest. 
 
Cortland followed with four goals in the span of less than three minutes midway through the period to take a 5-0 advantage, with Dempsey, Melillo, Sydney Elizalde, and Kristen Javenes (North Rockland) each scoring a goal during the run. 
 
The Red Dragons added goals by Javenes and Sydney Elizalde, both assisted by Brooke Elizalde, 30 seconds apart later in the frame to take a 7-0 lead after one quarter.
 
Dempsey netted two goals in the first five minutes of the second quarter, and Kaitlyn Tietjen's (Delmar/Bethlehem Central) ninth goal of the season with 2:50 remaining make it 10-0. Plattsburgh finally got on the board in the final seconds of the half on a player-up goal by Brooke Terry, but Cortland retained a 10-1 edge into halftime. 
 
Cortland scored all four goals of the third quarter, two each from Dempsey and Melillo, extending the Red Dragons' lead to 14-1 heading into the four quarter. 
 
The Red Dragons held their largest lead of the game with 8:23 remaining in the fourth quarter thanks to a goal by Brooke Elizalde and player-up goals by Chelsey Weber (Holtsville/Sachem East), and Dembinski. 
 
Plattsburgh scored the final two goals of the contest in the last five minutes, both on free-position shots, but the Red Dragons were already comfortably ahead to secure the win.