MADISON, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham women's lacrosse team claimed its third Freedom Conference Tournament Championship in the past four years after defeating the Misericordia University Cougars 19-8 on Saturday afternoon at Robert T. Shields.
Senior Midfielder Courtney Rendinaro (Hillsborough, N.J.) was named the tournament's most valuable player after scoring three goals and dishing out an astonishing 17 assists in the two games combined. Rendinaro successfully picked apart the opposition by using her keen field vision to record flashy assist totals. In the Devils' (16-3, 6-0 Freedom) win over the Cougars (9-9, 5-1 Freedom), she tallied one goal and recorded a career-high 10 assists.
Behind the high scoring output from the Devils was a dominant performance by senior goalkeeper, Grace Warburton (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.). She was two saves shy of 500 for her career entering Saturday's contest and in the conference tournament championship game she recorded a season-high 13 saves.
Less than a minute into action, Misericordia got on the board with a Liz Mulvey goal off of a Melina Juliano assist. The Devils then countered the Mulvey goal with a score from sophomore Brienna Reasoner (Flemington, N.J.). Following the Reasoner goal, the Devils offense caught fire and began to score almost at will.
With Rendinaro taking charge and serving up some great passes to her teammates, FDU-Florham went on to score seven unanswered goals. Sophomore midfielder Noelle Shirey (Pine Beach, N.J.) was responsible for two of those goals, while four other Devils put their name in the scoring column on the lenghty run.
The Cougars raddled off two consecutive goals to cut the deficit to four once Juliano and Alexandra Elmes each found the back of the net.
However, the Devils added to their lead with goals from Dana Amorosi (Deptford, N.J.), Joelle Manganella (Kenvil, N.J.) and Frances Maggio (Bound Brook, N.J.). Amorosi had a highly productive game for the Devils as she led the team in scoring by netting a season-high six goals on eight shots.
With six minutes left to play in the half, Elmes scored for the Cougars but in the closing minutes, Manganella responded by rifling a shot into the back of the net to put FDU-Florham up 11-4.
The second half was quickly highlighted by two goals off of shots from junior Brianna Capobianco (Williston Park, N.Y.) and Manganella. Both scores were assisted by Rendinaro.
After netting her second goal of the game, Mulvey trimmed the Devils lead to eight, but FDU-Florham responded with a Shirey score off of another Redinaro assist.
Amorosi went on to add three more goals for the Devils in the half and following another Capobianco score, FDU-Florham held a 19-6 lead with around six minutes left to play in the game. The Cougars netted two more goals late in the contest but when the clock ran out, the Devils rushed the field and celebrated their 19-8 Freedom Conference Tournament championship game victory.
