Box Score

EAST STROUDSBURG – Senior Michelle Mangiaruga scored three of her four goals in the final 15 minutes of regulation and brought East Stroudsburg University within one goal with 2:19 remaining, but Bloomsburg held off the Warriors for a 9-8 win in the PSAC lacrosse finale for both schools on Thursday afternoon at Whitenight Field.

Mangiaruga moved into third in school history with 141 career goals and became the fourth player to record 200 career points for the Warriors (9-7, 6-5), who will wait for the result of Saturday's make-up game between Mercyhurst and IUP to determine the final spots in the six-team PSAC Tournament. ESU would qualify as the No. 6 seed with a Mercyhurst win, but would lose a goal differential tiebreaker between the three teams if IUP prevails.

ESU pulled within one goal on four different occasions in the second half but couldn't find the tying goal against the Huskies (10-6, 7-4), who jumped out to leads of 4-0 and 6-1 in the first half before hanging on. Sam Mazzie led Bloomsburg with two goals and two assists and Lyndsey Babilon also added two goals.

Mangiaruga put the Warriors on the board with just over 16 minutes left in the first half, but they faced a five-goal deficit in the final 10 minutes of the half before getting within 6-4 at intermission.

Senior Molly O'Hara, who had two goals and one assist to become the second player in school history with back-to-back 50-goal seasons, assisted on a goal by freshman Sarah Studdiford with 6:59 left in the first half and scored her first goal two minutes later. Senior Jamie Wesztergom added a free position goal a minute after that to get the Warriors within two.

O'Hara opened the second half scoring on an assist from senior Christine Bradley at the 22:35 mark before the Huskies answered with a free position shot by Maggie Canavan with 19:50 remaining.

Mangiaruga began her scoring run with a free position goal with 14:31 remaining and added her third goal of the game with 7:31 on the clock, but Bloomsburg got goals from Samantha King and Tia Mazzie to stay in front by two. Mangiaruga's final goal, her 200th career point, made it 9-8 going into the final 2:00 but Sara Bates had the last of her 11 saves at one end and Bloomsburg ran out the clock at the other.

ESU held a 26-25 edge in shots and 10-9 margin in draw controls while Bloomsburg held a slight 19-18 lead in turnovers. Junior Amanda Simms made nine saves in goal for the Warriors, including five in the second half.

Along with their season and career milestones, O'Hara and Mangiaruga became the third set of ESU teammates to post 60 points in a season. O'Hara will enter Saturday's Senior Day game vs. Dowling with 65 points of 50 goals and 15 assists and Mangiaruga has 63 points on 39 goals and 24 assists. She can notch her third straight 40-goal campaign in the final game of the regular season.

Saturday's game between IUP and Mercyhurst will be played in Erie at 1 p.m. A Mercyhurst win would give the Lakers a 7-4 PSAC record and end IUP's season at 5-6. An IUP win would give ESU, Mercyhurst and IUP identical 6-5 records but force a goal differential tiebreaker that wouldn't work in the Warriors' favor. West Chester (11-0), Lock Haven (10-1), Gannon (8-3, including a 12-11 OT win at Mercyhurst on Thursday) and Bloomsburg (7-4) have secured the top four playoff spots.

The Warriors will recognize their seven seniors – Xeni Barakos, Brittany Bissell, Christine Bradley, Morgan Knowles, Michelle Mangiaruga, Molly O'Hara and Jamie Wesztergom – before Saturday's game vs. Dowling. The group has led ESU to PSAC playoff appearances as freshmen in 2008 and juniors in 2010, and can potentially add a third appearance on Saturday.


Warriors Notes
* O'Hara (213 career points) and Mangiaruga (200) are two of four players at ESU to hit the 200-point mark. The other two were also teammates, Kristin Restivo (228) and Megan Macauley (201), who played together from 1997-2000.
* Mangiaruga's 141 career goals passed Ann Clifton (140, 1983-86) for 3rd-most at ESU.
* Wesztergom (97 points – 71 goals, 26 assists) can become the fourth current Warrior with 100 career points, joining O'Hara, Mangiaruga and Bradley (138).