CORTLAND, NY – Ashley Melillo (Massapequa) posted a career-high eight points to lead the Cortland women's lacrosse team to a 14-2 victory over Oneonta in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) action on Grady Field. The game started on Tuesday afternoon but was paused due to inclement weather with Cortland leading 4-0 in the first quarter, and was continued and completed on Wednesday afternoon.  
 
Cortland won its third consecutive game, and moves to 7-3 (3-0 SUNYAC), while Oneonta drops to 6-3 (3-1 SUNYAC).
 
Melillo had three goals and five assists for Cortland, while Emma Dempsey (Brewerton/Paul V. Moore) had three goals and three assists and Brooke Elizalde (Ronkonkoma/Connetquot) added four goals.
 
Cortland's defense was led by Lexi Caron (Manlius/Fayetteville-Manlius), who contributed five caused turnovers and four ground balls. Emma Pagano (Oceanside) recorded three caused turnovers and four ground balls, while Bridie McGuire (Manorville/East-South Manor) had two caused turnovers and six ground balls. Melillo also added three ground balls and three caused turnovers. In all, Cortland had 23 caused turnovers from 13 different players. Trinity Parks (Port Crane/Chenango Forks) allowed just two goals and made five saves for the victory. 
 
Both of Oneonta's goals were scored by Ava Fitzsimons, while Lindsey Townes chipped in an assist. Angelina Weinert had four caused turnovers and four ground balls, Emily McIntee had two caused turnovers and five ground balls, and Margot Haring made 11 saves in goal. 
 
On Tuesday afternoon, Cortland jumped out to a 4-0 lead before play was halted due to thunder and lightning in the area with 3:24 left in the first quarter. Cortland's first goal came from Brooke Elizalde just over three minutes into the contest off a feed from Melillo, and Melillo made it 2-0 only 15 seconds later following a draw control from Taylor Mullins (Penn Yan/Penn Yan Academy). Cortland extended its lead on Dempsey's team-leading 21st goal of the year with 7:27 left, and Kristen Javenes (North Rockland) found the back of the net with the final action on Tuesday afternoon. 
 
The game resumed just after noon on Wednesday, and Melillo added to Cortland's lead with a goal off an assist from McGuire with 39 seconds left in the quarter. 
 
Fitzsimons netted Oneonta's first goal of the game only 22 seconds into the second quarter on a free-position shot that snuck past Parks, but Cortland rattled off three straight goals to make it 8-1 with 5:38 left in the half, two by Brooke Elizalde and another by Bella Dembinski (Holbrook/Sachem East).
 
Oneonta scored its second goal of the game by Fitzsimons with 4:20 remaining in the second quarter, and Cortland added two goals, one on a free-position shot by Dempsey and another by Elizalde off a feed from Melillo, to take a 10-2 lead at halftime.
 
The teams played nearly eight minutes of scoreless action to begin the third quarter, with three caused turnovers by the Cortland defense during that stretch. Cortland broke the scoring drought with a player-up goal by Sydney Elizalde (Ronkonkoma/Connetquot) with 7:14 left following a yellow card by Oneonta. Dempsey's third goal of the game, and second free-position goal of the contest, with 5:36 left gave Cortland a 12-2 lead, and the Oneonta deficit stayed at 10 through the end of the third quarter. 
 
After almost nine minutes of scoreless action in the fourth quarter, Javenes tallied her second goal of the game to extend Cortland's lead, assisted by Melillo. Melillo completed her eight-point game with her third goal of the contest with 4:56 remaining in the frame, and Pagano had two caused turnovers and Chelsey Weber (Holtsville/Sachem East) had one caused turnover in the final three minutes to keep Oneonta off the board for the remainder of the game and secure the 14-2 victory for Cortland.