Box Score
SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - Shippensburg University women's lacrosse senior Katie Irwin tied a season-high with five points, but it was not enough to overcome the offense of East Stroudsburg's Renee Maniscalco who scored a career-high nine points to lead the Warriors to a 13-9 victory over the Lady Raiders Saturday at Robb Sports Complex.
The loss was the third-straight for Shippensburg (2-6, 2-4 PSAC) who suffered just its second loss this season to a team not ranked in the top-10 nationally.
Irwin also scored five points in the Lady Raiders' season-opening 12-10 loss at then-No. 9 Queens (N.C.) on March 11 where she totaled a career-high four goals. Irwin's career-high in points is six which she set last season with three goals and three assists in a 22-5 victory over Seton Hill at home on Apr. 2, 2007.
Maniscalco scored five of the first seven goals for East Stroudsburg (7-2, 5-2 PSAC) who maintained its hold on third place in the conference standings, moving one game ahead of Bloomsburg after the Huskies lost at Lock Haven on Saturday.
The Warriors led 3-1 with 24:46 remaining in the first half after Maniscalco scored her third goal of the game off an assist from Sara Foley. Maniscalco, who finished the game with seven goals and two assists, doubled her goal production as she entered Saturday with just seven goals in eight games this season.
Shippensburg would score four of the game's next six goals to tie the game at 5-5, the last coming from sophomore defender Sarah Petrucci who netted her first goal of the season and the third of her career. Prior to Saturday, Petrucci's last goal came back on Apr. 7, 2007 in an 11-6 win over Bloomsburg at home.
However, the Warriors answered by scoring five goals in the final 7:13, including the fifth with just one second left in the half to take a 10-7 lead at halftime. During that time, Maniscalco had a hand in four of the tallies, scoring twice and assisting on two others.
Irwin assisted senior Kelly Smith just over three minutes into the second half to pull the Lady Raiders to within two, 10-8 with 26:54 remaining, but that would be as close as they would get as East Stroudsburg scored three consecutive goals to go ahead 13-8.
Again, the source was Maniscalco as she scored two more times, the last coming on a free position shot with 14:25 left.
Both teams managed to take 24 shots each, but the Warriors held a 15-8 edge in draw controls and converted four of their seven free position shots to win their third-straight game, all coming on the road.
Smith, who totaled a career-high 23 goals and 31 points last season, finished with two goals on Saturday to improve her season total to five. Meanwhile, senior Brita Paul and sophomore Gayle Kunztmann each added one goal and one assist.
In goal, sophomore Brooke Miller totaled seven saves while counterpart Kirstin Mayberry stopped eight shots.
Shippensburg, who finds itself in sixth place in the PSAC standings, looks to snap its three-game losing streak on Monday when it travels to Bloomsburg. Game time with the Huskies is at 4:00 p.m. The Huskies currently occupy the fourth and final playoff spot in this year's PSAC Women's Lacrosse Championship.
