KUTZTOWN, Pa. -- The 15th-ranked Kutztown University women's lacrosse team used four straight goals from All-American midfielder
Sam Graf (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Hills) to overcome an early deficit and kept ninth-ranked East Stroudsburg a couple steps behind the rest of the way in a big 15-13 victory Wednesday afternoon at Keystone Field.
Graf's four goals all came in the first quarter and helped get the Golden Bears going in the right direction.
Lailah ElBouazzaoui (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) and
Shannon Lake (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) led the hosts with five points on three goals and two assists while freshman
Lauren Lamorte (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) tied a career-high with four points in the win.
Kutztown (9-2, 5-1 PSAC East) solidified its grasp on second place in the conference standings with its third win over the Warriors in their last four meetings. The Golden Bears' only league loss came to current unbeaten West Chester. East Stroudsburg (7-4, 3-3 PSAC East) slid to fourth in the division after suffering losses to the top three teams (West Chester, Kutztown and Bloomsburg).
Emily Mitarotonda went over the 50-goal mark this season with game-highs of seven goals and 10 points but she proved to be the Warriors' only consistent source of offense on the afternoon. The Bears were able to lock in on the talented midfielder in the second half, holding her scoreless for more than 13 minutes in the third quarter and without a goal for a near-11 minute stretch in the fourth.
With KU trailing 2-0, Graf scored a player-up off a pass from Lamorte for her 40th goal of the season at 9:06. Lauren Hallman countered with a player-up goal for ESU before Graf netted three in a row to put the Maroon and Gold in front for the first time, 4-3, with 2:38 left in the quarter.
Lake, who assisted on Graf's third and fourth goals, found twine with less than a minute to go in the quarter to break a four-all tie and put Kutztown in front for good.
Meakim scored a pair of goals, Lake added another and ElBouazzaoui had one as KU built its advantage to 9-5 with 2:55 left in the half. East Stroudsburg cut the lead to 9-7 at the half but everytime the Warriors got close the rest of the way, KU had an answer.
Madison Wenner (Marmora, N.J./Ocean City), ElBouazzaoui and
Katie Yocum (Hanover, Pa./South Western) scored in the third and Lamorte capped a 3-0 run 89 seconds into the fourth that restored Kutztown's four-goal lead, 14-10.
Lake concluded the scoring for KU with 10:52 remaining. The Warriors would scored twice in the final 3:36 but ElBouazzaoui and Graf won critical draw controls to keep the ball away from the visitors.
Kutztown controlled much of the play, leading the Warriors in shots (37-25), ground balls (15-11) and draw controls (19-12). The Bears were 15-of-17 on clears to ESU's 18-of-22. Much of ESU's offensive success came on free-position attempts, where the Warriors were 7-of-10.
Graf collected a game-high seven draw controls to reach 200 in her career and overtake Emily Smith (199) for the program's career record. ElBouazzaoui had five to surpass 100 in her career (103) and Wenner three. Graf also caused three turnovers, sharing the team lead with
Summer Davis (Beach Haven, N.J./Southern Regional).
Jenna Blesson (Sparta, N.J./Lenape Valley Regional),
Cyrose Conteh (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown) and
Robin Spector (Northfield, N.J./Mainland Regional) picked up three ground balls apiece.
Blesson stopped eight Warrior shots for her eighth win in 10 games this season, while Abby Simonetti made 13 saves for ESU.
Kutztown is on the road at Shippensburg Saturday (noon) to start the second half of league play. The Golden Bears defeated the Raiders, 18-7, at Keystone Field back on March 20.
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