On Saturday, March 2, the New Haven women’s lacrosse team took to Kathy Zolad Stadium for the first time in the 2024 season as they faced off against non-conference opponent Dominican College. After a tight 13-12 loss in their season opener against Mercy College, the Chargers looked to pick up their first win of the season on their home turf.
New Haven dominated the game from start to finish as they jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter that they would never give up. Attacker Kyra Sparks gave the Chargers an early lead with a goal under three minutes into the game, quickly followed by attacker Cameryn Antler’s first of five goals that doubled their lead in less than four minutes of play.
Just 55 seconds later, midfielder Katie Schenk stretched the lead to three with her first of two goals. New Haven continued to dominate the opening quarter of the game as they controlled the pace offensively and fired shots consistently on net. Antler and midfielder Summer Castiglione kept the pressure up with shots on net before attacker Caitlin Seleny picked up a ground ball and scored the Chargers fourth consecutive goal.
Dominican tallied their first score with 2:42 left to play in the first quarter, but New Haven added another goal with just eight seconds remaining from Antler to finish with a commanding 5-1 lead.
New Haven picked up right where they left off to begin the second quarter as midfielder Gianna Caprioli added the first two of her four goals for the game to make it a six-goal lead less than three minutes into the quarter.
New Haven goalkeeper Gabby Buscemi stood tall in net, not allowing Dominican to bring themselves within striking distance of the lead. After saving two shots in the middle of the quarter, the Chargers high-powered offense was back on the attack as Antler scored her third goal of the game, followed closely by a free-position goal from Caprioli to make it a 9-1 game.
Antler added another to bring the Chargers to double digits before Dominican attacker Madelyn Grella made it an eight-point lead with 2:33 remaining in the first half. Caprioli and attacker Lucy Shafer closed out the scoring with a goal each to give the Chargers a commanding 12-2 lead going into halftime.
The opening minutes of the second half were quiet as neither team could control possession, but during a free-position shot, midfielder Cypress Levitt tallied the first score of the third quarter to give New Haven an 11-point lead. Grella and Antler exchanged goals in the closing minutes of the quarter as the Chargers held a 14-3 lead going into the final 15 minutes of play.
Levitt added her second goal of the game just one minute and 19 seconds into the quarter before Dominican made it a 10-point game with goals from Grella and midfielder Jordana Tomasetti. Following the two goals, New Haven was able to maintain possession and attack Dominican’s defense with a shot from Schenk that hit the post before she found the back of the net on a free-position shot for their 16th score of the game.
Attacker Erica Ortiz tallied the final score of the game for Dominican to make it a 16-6 game, which would stand until the final buzzer sounded.
The Chargers dominated the game from start to finish for their first win of the season and will look to continue their strong play in their next matchup in Philadelphia, Penn. against Jefferson University on Tuesday, March 5. The game is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. as New Haven will face off against another non-conference opponent. More information about the team can be found at NewHavenChargers.com.
