MIDDLETOWN, CT – The Cortland women's lacrosse team fell behind early, and couldn't get its offense rolling to mount a comeback, as the Red Dragons dropped an 18-3 decision at nationally second-ranked Wesleyan in the second round of the NCAA Div. III tournament on Sunday afternoon.
Cortland finishes the season with a 15-5 record, while Wesleyan improves to 16-3 and advances to next weekend's third round to face the University of Chicago.
Sydney Elizalde (Ronkonkoma/Connetquot) scored two goals for Cortland, while
Bella Dembinski (Holbrook/Sachem East) added one tally.
Ashley Melillo (Massapequa) provided a pair of assists.
Lexi Caron (Manlius/Fayetteville-Manlius) finished with three caused turnovers and two ground balls for the Red Dragons.
Rachel Rempe (Aquebogue/Riverhead) contributed three draw controls, finishing her career with 196 draw controls to rank eighth in program history.
The Cardinals were led by three goals each from Mya Waryas, Sami Smith, Kyra Browne, and Dylan Greene. Wesleyan's Lindsey Diomede caused five Cortland turnovers and scooped up four ground balls.
Wesleyan opened the scoring just 11 seconds into the first quarter on a goal by Addie Cummings after Browne secured the draw control. The Cardinals added three more goals in the first five minutes to take a 4-0 lead with 10:24 remaining and force Cortland into using a timeout.
Following the timeout, the Red Dragons settled in defensively over the following minutes, forcing Wesleyan into turnovers on each of its next three possessions.
Cortland thought it had scored a goal with 3:10 left in the quarter when
Kristen Javenes (North Rockland) slipped a shot into the back of the net, but the officials disallowed the goal after a stick check. The Cardinals then responded with two goals in the final three minutes for a 6-0 lead after one quarter.
Elizalde got Cortland on the board less than a minute into the second quarter, sneaking a shot from a tight angle to the left of the Wesleyan goal into the top right corner of the goal after a feed from Melillo.
Wesleyan ended the half by holding Cortland to just one more shot attempt in the final 14 minutes, and also scoring the final six goals of the half to take a 12-1 advantage into the intermission.
Elizalde added her second goal of the game to open the scoring in the third quarter, rifling a shot into the top right corner of the net in a similar fashion to her first goal after a pass from the left side from Melillo to make it 12-2 with 9:12 left in the period.
Wesleyan added two goals in the final four minutes of the period to extend the lead to 14-2 heading into the final frame. The Cardinals also scored four straight tallies to begin the final period, taking their largest lead of the game with 4:08 after a free-position goal by Smith.
Dembinski completed the scoring for the contest with 2:21 in the game, bouncing a free-position shot into the left side of the goal for the final 18-3 margin.
