PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. – The No. 14 Pace University women's lacrosse team improved to 7-0 on their home turf on Tuesday night following a 13-5 victory over No. 25 Assumption College. The victory moves the Setters' overall record to 10-4, while their conference mark improves to 7-3.
Inside the Numbers
*The Setters had five different goal scorers in the contest. Leading the attack was Casey Gelderman (Farmingville, NY/Sachem High School East), who had a seven-point night with five goals and two assists. The senior has now recorded five tallies in three straight games.
*Abby Haimson (Montville, NJ/Montville) scored three times for the Blue and Gold, while Stephanie Chadnick (Brewster, NY/Brewster) added two scores of her own. Chadnick also chipped in two assists on the day.
*Angela Kelly (Garnerville, NY/North Rockland) and Emma Rafferty (Bay Shore, NY/Islip) rounded out the Setter goal-scorers, combining for three goals in the contest.
*Courtney Pabst (East Patchogue, NY/Bellport) recorded a team-high four assists on the night. She continues to lead the Blue and Gold with 24 helpers on the season.
*Jillian Oross (Bay Shore, NY/Bay Shore) made nine saves in net, her highest single-game total since Mar. 23. The senior faced 25 shots during a full 60 minutes of action, picking up her 10th win of the season.
*Najmah James (Danbury, CT/Danbury) forced a game-high five turnovers and finished the night tied with Chadnick in ground balls with three.
How it Happened
As was expected in a meeting between two of the NE10's finest, the contest opened with momentum shifting back and forth as Pace and Assumption traded goals. Gelderman opened the scoring with her 43rd goal of the season three and a half minutes into the contest, but Assumption responded to even the score a minute later. Pace would go back on top off of Chadnick's first goal of the game at the 21:16 mark, but the Greyhounds once again responded quickly to knot the game up at 2-2 with just under 20 minutes to play.
The Setters ended the first half on the right foot with the final two scores of the period. Kelly scored with 15:26 left on the clock off a feed from Gelderman to give Pace their third lead of the period, while Haimson would extend it with just over seven minutes to play as the Setters took a 4-2 advantage into the half.
Pace continued to ride the momentum into the second half, as Gelderman scored twice in the first five minutes to extend the lead to 6-2. Assumption clawed back with three straight scores, the first just 39 seconds after Gelderman's third on the night. Amanda Burns beat Oross at the 18:34 mark as the Greyhounds narrowed the Pace lead down to one at 6-5.
Undeterred by the Assumption run, the Setters ended the game with seven consecutive goals to put the contest to rest. Gelderman provided the bookend goals to the run with her 46th and 47th goals of the season. The Greyhounds were unable to provide a response as the Blue and Gold took the 13-5 final.
Up Next
The Setters look to keep the home success rolling into the weekend for their penultimate game of the season at Pace Stadium. Pace welcomes Southern New Hampshire University into Pleasantville on Saturday at 1 p.m.
