ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Mar. 1, 2016) - Winning the first game of the season could set the tone for how the rest of the year shakes out. For the Molloy College women's lacrosse team, a 12-9 victory over Saint Michael's College on Sunday (Feb. 28) was a good way to get things started for the maroon and white. Now the Lions will look to spoil the debut of one of the top teams in all of Division II women's lacrosse when Molloy ventures up to Kayo Rodriguez Field on Thursday (Mar. 3) to face the University of New Haven at 3:30 p.m.
About The Lions- Molloy's 12-9 win was highlighted by an eight-point (1G, 7A) performance from graduate attacker
Meghan Orlando (Hicksville, N.Y.). The attack was bolstered by hat tricks from
Cooper Sesselman (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) and
Jessica Markowitz (Baldwin, N.Y.) as well as the first two collegiate goals from midfielder
Brianna Wilson (Levittown, N.Y.).
- The defense was swarming, to be sure. Molloy forced 22 Saint Michael's turnovers and received credit for 12 caused turnovers, with senior midfielder
Katie O'Brien (Oyster Bay, N.Y.) leading the charge with four CTOs. Orlando had three while Sesselman added two in that category.
- An excellent performance in net from red-shirt junior goalkeeper
Caroline Winters (Baldwin, N.Y.) was a major key to success. Winters stopped 11 shots including several on free-position attempts in the win, starting her season off with a .550 save percentage.
Concerning the Chargers- New Haven is ranked No. 4 by the IWLCA after a 15-4 season that ended in the NCAA quarterfinals back in 2015. The Chargers won 11 games in the Northeast-10 Conference a season ago but lost to eventual NCAA semifinalist Le Moyne in the NE-10 title game, the second straight year that UNH had made the conference championship contest.
- Tenth-year head coach Jen Fallon won her 100th career game as head coach of New Haven back on Mar. 22, 2015 in a 9-5 win over nationally-ranked Saint Anselm. This year, Fallon will have to replace the 102 combined goals and 145 combined points of graduated attackers Kathryn Campbell and Courtney Ackland.
- The third, fourth, fifth and sixth-highest scorers from the 2015 edition of the Chargers return this season led by 33-goal scorer Caitlin O'Brien (Branford, Conn.). Yes, this is the battle of Caitlin versus Katie to determine which O'Brien is superior on the lacrosse field.
- The Chargers also return both goalies from a season ago in seniors Marissa McDermott (Longmeadow, Mass.) and Alyssa Gianotti (Monkton, Md.). McDermott went 6-1 with a 7.96 GAA while Gianotti earned a 9-3 record with a better GAA (7.93) and save percentage (.446) in 2015.
