The women’s lacrosse team suffered a 13-6 loss Tuesday afternoon to Western Connecticut State University, making the Roadrunners’ record 3-4 overall. Ramapo has some good wins so far this season, but the majority of losses have come from utterly large defeats.
The Colonials of Western Connecticut were the first on board to start the game, which then opened up to a 3-0 early lead. The Roadrunners stayed strong after the first set of goals from Western Connecticut. Freshman attack Monica Torres scored Ramapo’s first goal with 18:18 left in the first half, moving the score to 3-1.
Western Connecticut senior Kirsten Hudock then put the Colonials up by three. Teresa Gustafson, a senior midfielder for Ramapo, seemed to bring back hope to Ramapo by scoring a goal, assisted by sophomore Itati Aburto, with 14:40 left in the first. The goal again made it a two-goal game at 4-2.
Elena Gayton, Western Connecticut senior attack, scored back-to-back goals, making the score 8-2 with a remaining 1:11 in the first half. Gustafson then added to her stat line by hitting the back of the net with 23 seconds left before the half was over. Heading into halftime, the Roadrunners were behind 8-3.
In the first half, Ramapo was outshot by Western Connecticut 27-10, but that did not stop Reagan Vier, junior goalie for Ramapo, from making 15 saves. Vier made 24 saves in the game, compared to the 10 that Western Connecticut’s goalie, senior Karli Portnoy made.
The second half was opened with an unassisted Ramapo goal by freshman attack, Winter Tanis, with just under five minutes of the second half, making the score 8-4.
Three separate Western Connecticut players each scored to drive the count up to 11-4. With two more goals to come, the Colonials then upped their lead 13-4, with no comeback in sight for the Roadrunners. Michelle Gustafson and Torres each scored a goal towards the end of the game for a final score of 13-6.
Aburto, a sophomore defender for Ramapo, felt the team could have played better earlier in the game, feeling that her team was not really in the game until it was too late.
“I feel that if we get mentally prepared, we will do better,” said Aburto.
Ramapo is currently 0-1 in conference play, losing to the fifth nationally ranked team, TCNJ. Aburto feels when it comes to conference play, her team needs to focus on the game, not the losses they’ve endured.
“For our next conference games, we just have to think of it as the next play, and not dwell on the loss,” said Aburto.
Their next conference play will be April 12 away at Rutgers-Camden, along with their next away game at Drew University on April 10. Ramapo will return for their next home game on April 15 against Montclair State University.
—
lforese@ramapo.edu
