NEW PALTZ, NY – After falling behind by two goals early in the first quarter, the Cortland women's lacrosse team closed the game on a 15-3 run for a commanding 15-5 road victory over New Paltz in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) play on Friday afternoon. Cortland remains unbeaten in league play with a 4-0 mark, and is now 8-3 overall. New Paltz suffers its first conference defeat to fall to 3-1 in the league and 7-4 overall.
 
Kristen Javenes (North Rockland) had a career-high five goals to lead Cortland offensively, while Brooke Elizalde (Ronkonkoma/Connetquot) contributed a goal and four assists and Sydney Elizalde (Ronkonkoma/Connetquot) added three goals and an assist.
 
Emma Dempsey (Brewerton/Paul V. Moore), Ashley Melillo (Massapequa), and Bella Dembinski (Holbrook/Sachem East) each recorded three points, with Dempsey scoring three goals and Melillo and Dembinski having a goal and two assists apiece.
 
Chelsey Weber (Holtsville/Sachem East) had three caused turnovers and scooped up four ground balls for the Cortland defense, and Bridie McGuire (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor) had two caused turnovers, six ground balls, and one draw control. Taylor Mullins (Penn Yan/Penn Yan Academy) finished with a career-high 10 draw controls, shattering her previous career high of five from earlier this season.
 
Lexi Atwater and Mia Baldinger each scored two goals for the Hawks, while Ava Padilla registered two assists. Amy Whitman had five caused turnovers and scooped up three ground balls, while Maddy Luongo and Helena Willis each had three caused turnovers.
 
Baldinger gave New Paltz a 1-0 lead under three minutes into the first quarter with a player-up goal following a green card on the Red Dragons. The Hawks doubled their lead only 23 seconds later to take a 2-0 advantage with 11:46 left in the period.
 
The teams struggled to get going offensively over the next seven minutes, with a combined 11 turnovers in that stretch.
 
Cortland got on the board with under four minutes remaining, with Dembinski sending a pass from the right side to the middle to Sierra Natoli (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) for Natoli's third goal of the season. The Elizalde sisters combined for a goal with 1:50 remaining to tie the score at 2-2 at the end of the opening frame, with Brooke Elizalde providing the assist on Sydney Elizalde's 22nd goal of the year.
 
Atwater opened up the second quarter with a goal only 1:29 into the period to re-establish a lead for New Paltz, but the Red Dragons scored the final four goals of the half to take the lead for good and held a 6-3 edge into halftime. Among the four Cortland goals in the second quarter, Dempsey, Melillo, and Javenes each scored a free-position goal, and Brooke Elizalde set up Dembinski's 20th goal of the season with 6:03 left in the half.
 
The Red Dragons outscored the Hawks 4-2 in the third quarter to extend the lead to 10-5 at the end of three periods, with Sydney Elizalde scoring twice in the period and Dempsey and Javenes both scoring a goal.
 
In the fourth quarter, Cortland scored five times and did not allow a goal, extending its lead to the final margin of 10. Javenes netted three of the Red Dragons' goals in the quarter, Brooke Elizalde scored once off an assist from Melillo, and Dempsey used the final action of the contest to tally her third goal of the game with 39 seconds remaining.
 
New Paltz's final goal of the contest came with 6:26 remaining in the third quarter, and the Red Dragon defense was excellent over the final 21-plus minutes of the game, allowing just one shot on target that was saved by Trinity Parks (Port Crane/Chenango Forks) to prevent a comeback.