University of Connecticut Athletics
Connecticut Falls To Rutgers, 9-6
4/10/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
STORRS, CT (April 10) – Tracy Mullaney scored three times but the University of Connecticut lacrosse team fell, 9-6, to Rutgers on Saturday afternoon at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium in Storrs. The loss drops the Huskies to 4-8 overall on the year and 1-3 in BIG EAST action, while the Scarlet Knights up their mark to 5-6 overall and 1-3 in conference play.
Rutgers scored just 31 seconds into the contest as Cristina Curiale put home a Katie Batiuk feed for the first of her three goals on the afternoon. Rutgers led 4-1 late in the half, but the Huskies would record two of the final three tallies to make it a 5-3 game at half time. Mullaney netted her second goal of the opening half at 7:13 while Abbey VanDeusen scored with 2:13 remaining.
Rutgers had a chance to steal much of the momentum right at the start of the second half as Anne Marchitello got a clean break away off of the opening draw, but Jennifer Wong came up big in the Husky net making one of her seven saves on the day. The teams soon traded free position goals a minute apart with Curiale tallying for Rutgers and Mullaney scoring for UConn. The Scarlet Knights would go up 8-4 shortly afterwards on a pair of goals by Lisa Savage. Meanwhile, at the 20-minute mark, Rutgers goalkeeper Lyndsey Feldman continued to stymie the Huskies as she made one of her numerous saves in the game on a two-on-one by VanDeusen and Shannon Burke.
After briefly falling behind 9-4 on a Cali Wojdyla goal with 14:45 to play, UConn mounted another rally. Dana Stewart put home a Burke pass from the top of the eight-meter arc at 12:54 and then Tanya Kotowicz struck on a free position opportunity at 11:25. The Scarlet Knights were able to maintain possession of the ball for much of the remainder of the contest. UConn’s best chances came just inside of the 3:00 mark when Kariana Lauri had a pair of consecutive free position opportunities but the first one rang off of the cross bar and the second was denied by Feldman in the Rutgers net.
The Huskies return to the field on Monday when they travel down I-91 to Hamden, Conn. for a 3:00 tilt at Quinnipiac.
