MONTCLAIR, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham women's lacrosse team dropped its 2016 season opener, falling to The College at Brockport 18-10 on Sunday afternoon at Montclair State University.
Junior attack Joelle Manganella paced the Devils (0-1) in the loss with four goals on four shots. Two of Manganella's scores game via free position shots.
The Golden Eagles (1-0) outshot the Devils 31-16 in the contest, including 21-10 in the second stanza. Jessica Boddery and Kelly Wall led Brockport with four goals apiece in the win. Wall had a huge game, dishing six assists for a 10-point afternoon.
Ciara McKeon opened the scoring 2:12 into action by netting an unassisted goal. The Golden Eagles proceeded to extend their lead with two more strikes and led 3-0 just over five minutes in.
The Devils countered with back-to-back goals from Manganella, the second of which coming off a feed from senior Brianna Capobianco.
Leading 3-2, Brockport went back to work tallying four straight scores with Wall assisting on two.
Manganella worked to get the Devils back in by netting a pair of free position shots, which cut the deficit to 7-4 with 7:50 to go in the opening stanza, however, the Golden Eagles again pulled away by closing the half with five unanswered strikes.
Just under two minutes into the second half, junior midfielder Noelle Shirey buried her first goal of the season by finishing a free position shot into the back of the net.
But the Golden Eagles kept the pressure on and answered with three more scores to build their largest lead of the game 15-5, with 18:28 to go.
Brockport remained in control for the duration of the half en route to the win.
Shirey finished with two goals on the day, while junior midfielder Brienna Reasoner scored one and assisted on another. Reasoner added five draw controls to her ledger and Shirey picked up four in the contest. Junior midfielder Brittni Calleo also picked up her first goal of the campaign in the loss.
Making her collegiate debut, FDU-Florham goalkeeper Megan Nemeth tallied seven saves, while Erin Gill also earned some time in net and made two stops in her 10:20 of action.
FDU-Florham returns to action this Wednesday, March 2 when they travel to Hoboken, N.J. to take on Stevens Institute of Technology at 3 p.m.
