WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – A six goal second half helped propel the FDU-Florham women's lacrosse team past the King's College Monarchs 8-5 in a Freedom Conference showdown Saturday afternoon in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
The Devils (10-3, 3-0 Freedom) have been red hot as of late, winning eight of their last nine games. Courtney Rendinaro (Hillsborough, N.J.) led the Devils on the offensive end against the Monarchs (6-5, 2-1 Freedom) with three goals and two assists. The senior midfielder has now scored three or more goals in five straight games.
The Monarchs were the first to get on the board once Gabriella Morrocu sent the ball to the back of the net. Several minutes later, the Monarchs were awarded a free position shot and Breanna Schurgot capitalized, giving the team a 2-0 lead. With a man-up advantage, it was the Monarchs again who were on the attack and this time it was Kendra McCoy who scored off of the assist from Anastasia Araviakis.
Trailing by three goals with less than 10 minutes left to play in the half, the Devils were awarded a free position shot and Frances Maggio (Bound Brook, N.J.) got the ball and buried her ninth goal of season. Less than two minutes later, Noelle Shirey (Pine Beach, N.J.) was awarded a free position shot and she rifled it past the goalie for her 18th goal of the season.
The Monarchs added one more goal before the half on an Araviakis free position score to extend Kings' lead to two.
To open up the second half, it was Morrocu again for the Monarchs, netting her second goal of the game. However, that was the last score that Kings able to put on the board as the Devils offense began to take over.
With less than 25 minutes left to play in the game, Rendinaro scored three goals in less than three minutes. She was awarded a free position shot on three consecutive Devils' possessions and she scored on all three of them to tie the game up at 5-5.
The Devils then went on to add three more goals off of shots from Brianna Capobianco (Williston Park, N.Y.), Brittni Calleo (Bayville, N.J.) and Shirey to seal their 8-5 come-from-behind victory over the Monarchs.
FDU-Florham will square off against the Manhattanville Valiants at Robert T. Shields Field on Wednesday, April 15, at 7 p.m.
