EAST STROUDSBURG – Paced by five goals from Hana Cicerelle and four from Shannon Dent, the East Stroudsburg University lacrosse team pulled away in the second half in an 18-7 win over Bloomsburg in the PSAC quarterfinal round at Whitenight Field on Saturday afternoon.
With her first of her career-high matching five goals, Cicerelle became ESU's all-time points leader. She now sits with 157 career points after totaling 13 points over the past two contests.
With the win, the PSAC East two-seed Warriors (10-2) will head to PSAC East first seed West Chester (11-0) on Wednesday for the PSAC Semifinals. The winner of that matchup will represent the East Division and host the PSAC Championship against the remaining PSAC West Division foe. The Huskies complete their season with an 8-6 record.
Cicerelle tied Lauren Nunes' (2013-16) program points record against Shippensburg last Wednesday. This season, Cicerelle ranks fourth in the conference with 4.25 points per game.
Along with Cicerelle and Dent's nine combined goals, Gianna LeDuc contributed five points on a hat trick and two assists. Bailey McMaster also recoded three goals on the afternoon for the Warriors. Emily Mitarotonda added two goals, while Brielle Curtis (2 assists), Elaina Ohlson (2 assists) and Madison Bagatta (1 goal) round out the Warriors that tallied points.
Playing in her 75th game in an ESU uniform, Tatyana Petteway earned the victory in the cage with 11 saves. The Nanuet, N.Y. native is just 10 saves away from becoming the all-time saves leader at ESU. She currently sits in 10th place all-time in Division II. With a full 60 minutes in the cage today, Petteway has now played the second most minutes all-time among Division II goalkeepers with 4,172 minutes.
Dent and McMaster tallied the first two goals of the game during the first five minutes of play before BU's Abby Bergman put the Huskies on the scoreboard in the seventh minute of action.
Cicerelle's first of five goals came with 22:53 remaining in the first half, as she became the sole leader in career points at ESU. McMaster followed with her second goal to increase the ESU advantage to 4-1.
BU, who took down nationally ranked and previously undefeated Seton Hill on Wednesday, countered with a pair of goals to cut the deficit to just a single goal at 4-3.
The Warriors countered with a 4-0 run to grab a five-goal advantage at 8-3. Mitarotonda scored both of her goals during the stretch, as LeDuc and Dent also posted tallies.
The Huskies continued to fight and claw, slicing the ESU advantage to just three after a man-up goal with 2:45 left in the opening half. Dent ended the half on the right note for the Warriors, scoring on an assist from Elainha Ohlson. ESU would take a 9-5 lead after 20 minutes at Whitenight Field.
Holding a four-goal advantage, ESU would allow just a pair of goals over the final 30 minutes, as the Warriors closed the game on a 9-2 second half run to advance to the PSAC Semifinals by a score of 18-7.
Both of ESU's losses this season came at the hands of West Chester, who was nationally ranked in the top-five of the IWLCA Poll in both instances. The Warriors held second-half leads in both contests, but the Golden Rams were able to record late scoring runs to remain undefeated. The opening draw time will be announced soon at Vonnie Gros Field.
