EAST STROUDSBURG – Paced by six points each from Emily Mitarotonda and Kiki Fitzpatrick, along with four goals from Hannah Schiemer, the No. 12/9 Warriors picked up their fifth consecutive win, starting the second half of the PSAC East slate with a 16-10 victory over Millersville on Saturday afternoon at Whitenight Field.

With the win, the Warriors (10-2, 6-1 PSAC East) remain one game ahead of Kutztown and half a game behind West Chester for first place. The Marauders (6-6, 3-4 PSAC East) fall for their third consecutive contest.

The matchup served as the sixth annual Alyssa Oxenford Memorial Game. Oxenford, a three-year starter for ESU from 2012-14, passed away after battling leukemia in August 2015. The Warriors continue to honor Alyssa in every game they play, wearing orange gear and her number seven on the sleeve of their jerseys.

Notables

• Mitarotonda posted five goals and an assist, while Fitzpatrick totaled three assists and three goals for the Warriors. Mitarotonda also recorded a caused turnover and scooped six draw controls and two ground balls. Fitzpatrick earned three ground balls and led ESU with eight draw controls.
• Mitarotonda now has 46 goals and 10 assists this season for 56 points in 11 games. In her career, the junior now has 183 goals in 50 games, needing just seven goals to break Kristin Restivo's (1997-2000) 189 career goals. She surpassed former teammate and volunteer assistant coach Hana Cicerelle's 180 career goals in the matchup, as the Garden State native now ranks second all-time among all Warriors. She is two points away from passing Restivo's 228 career points for third all-time in the category.
• Schiemer matched her freshman season best of four goals against the Marauders. She now has 19 goals in 2023.
• Madison Bagatta totaled two goals, four ground balls, a caused turnover, and three draw controls.
• Jolee Roth also contributed two points on a goal and an assist.
• Campbell Heller also scored a goal and Elaina Ohlson distributed an assist.
• In the cage, ESU GK Riley DiFiore made five saves and allowed seven goals for her ninth win in 11 games as a Warrior. Bella Gismondi played the final 23:24 of the game spanning the third and fourth quarters, making five saves while conceding three goals.
• Leading Millersville's offense was Ashlyn Simonetti and Liv Genovese, who both tallied hat tricks and both recorded an assist. Genovese led the game with nine draw controls. GK Morgan Scott made nine saves and allowed 16 goals in the 60-minute performance.
• ESU led in shots (35-26), shots on goal (27-20), draw controls (18-13), and had eight fewer turnovers (17-10). The Marauders held an advantage in ground balls (25-20).

How It Happened

• ESU took an early lead with Mitarotonda scoring the first goal of the game at 13:38, followed shortly by Schiemer at 12:01, giving ESU a 2-0 advantage after three minutes. Millersville responded with Hayden Corcoran finding the back of the net at 10:02, narrowing the gap to 2-1. ESU continued to press forward with goals from Heller at 8:23 and Schiemer's second goal of the game at 7:47, putting ESU ahead 4-1. 'Ville fought back with Liv Genovese scoring at 6:57 and Hayden Corcoran's second goal of the period at 1:08, bringing the score to 4-3 in favor of ESU after the first period.
• Fitzpatrick opened the second quarter scoring less than a minute into the period to extend the ESU lead to 5-3. The Marauders answered back with Liv Genovese scoring her second goal of the game at 11:54, closing the gap to 5-4. Schiemer continued her impressive performance, scoring two more goals at 10:51 and 09:58, giving ESU a 7-4 lead. Roth, Mitarotonda, and Bagatta continued the scoring run for ESU, pushing ESU's lead to a game-high six-goal edge at 10-4, following the five-goal spree. The Marauders closed the first half strong, with Ashlyn Simonetti and Liv Genovese finding the back of the cage, but ESU maintained a 10-6 lead going into halftime.
• In the third period, Simonetti and Mitarotonda exchanged goals, with Simonetti scoring at 8:24 and Mitarotonda answering back at 7:18, with the Warriors now leading by four. Mitarotonda continued her impressive performance, scoring her third goal of the game at 1:43, extending ESU's lead to 12-7 after three periods of action.
• Mitarotonda added her fifth and final goal to open the fourth, extending the lead back to six. Ville added the next two scores to make it a four-goal game with 11:27 remaining, but that's as close as MU would get. Fitzpatrick added a pair of goals in less than a minute span, while Bagatta buried a goal with 3:31 left, taking a 16-9 edge. Rachel Keeney scored the final goal with 90 seconds to go for the final score of 16-10.

Up Next

• ESU is idle until Sat., April 15 when the Warriors head to West Virginia to face Shepherd. Game time is set for Noon in Shepherdstown.