FARMVILLE, Va. ? The Presbyterian College women's lacrosse team established numerous school records in the 24-17 victory over Howard in the 2009 season finale Sunday afternoon on the campus of Longwood.
The Blue Hose close out the campaign with a 3-11 mark.
PC established school records for goals in a half (12), goals in a game (24), assists (11) and points (35). Individually, Jenna Handshoe established an individual record with a school-best 10 points coming on six goals and four assists. Her six goals also marked a school record.
Head coach Kristina Llanes' team jumped out to an early 1-0 lead behind Kirstin Stenoien's goal off a pass from Brittni Dulaney just 1:42 into the game.
After the Lady Bison tied the score, Handshoe tallied back-to-back scores for a 3-1 lead at the 18:35 mark. Howard answered back, knotting the score at 3-3 on a free position shot by Sakita Holley with 16:02 to go in the first half.
The teams remained deadlocked for nearly two minutes before Handshoe found Laura Meade, who promptly fired a shot to the back of the net for the 4-3 advantage. Howard tied the contest on another goal by Holley, but it marked the last time the Lady Bison would pull even in the half.
PC recorded back-to-back scores by Handshoe and Dulaney (assisted by Handshoe) just 19 seconds apart for the two-goal lead. Howard trimmed the margin to one 12 seconds later, but the Blue Hose reeled off three consecutive scores in a span of 2:11 for what looked like a commanding lead. During that run, Handshoe, Jordan Newberry and Meade all found the back of the net.
Howard scored two of the next three goals, but Stenoien answered the bell with the final two goals of the half. The last one pretty much closed the door on Howard's comeback attempt, netting the goal with one tick left on the play clock before half. The score came on a free position attempt.
Just 15 seconds into the second half, Marie-Lisette Dimitrew took a pass from Handshoe and converted it for a six-goal lead, 13-7.
After attaining the large advantage, the Blue Hose offense sputtered, scoring just once over the next 11 minutes. During that time, Howard tallied eight goals, taking a 15-14 lead with 19:44 to play.
However, Llanes' team would not give up. Dulaney answered the bell with two scores over a 37 second period, sparking a 5-0 run by the Blue Hose. After Dulaney's second goal, 17 seconds later Meade found the back of the net. Stenoien recorded back-to-back goals, netting her second off a pass from Handshoe with 16 minutes to play. At that point, PC had taken a four-goal lead, 19-15.
Neither team scored for over four minutes, but Howard broke the scoring drought at 11:39. From that point forward, PC closed out the game with five of the game's final six scores for the final seven-goal margin.
In addition to Handshoe's 10-point performance, Dulaney totaled eight points on four goals and four assists. Stenoien notched five goals while Meade tallied five points on four goals and an assist.
Newberry notched three goals while Dimitrew added three points on a goal and two assists. Megan Woodis also added a late goal.
Dimitrew picked up a team-high five ground balls while Dulaney had three. Jill Parker, Newberry, Stenoien and senior Alyson Whitley all scooped up two ground balls. Parker also caused a team-best two turnovers.
Newberry grabbed a team-best six draw controls while Dulaney plucked five. Susan England played 50:27 in goal, tallying 11 saves. Erin McBurnette saved two shots in 9:33 of play.
For their effort, Dulaney and Handshoe were named to the all-tournament team.
The Blue Hose just graduate one student-athlete from this year's team.
