Purple Knights Battle NYIT To 10-9 Decision In ECC Women's Lacrosse Opener

Bridgeport, Conn.-The University of Bridgeport women's lacrosse team opened its 2018 East Coast Conference schedule on Monday afternoon at Knights Field with an excellent performance, as the host Purple Knights gave the nationally-ranked NYIT Bears (number 18 in the nation) all they could handle in a 10-9 loss.  UB is now 1-5 overall and 0-1 in conference play.  NYIT moves to 7-2 overall and 2-0 in the ECC.

With the game tied 5-5 at the half, the Purple Knights opened the scoring in the second half just over three minutes into play in the final stanza on a free position goal by freshman Shyla Murray (Brentwood, N.Y.) to take a 6-5 lead, but the Bears then scored the next five tallies to take a 10-5 with 10:44 to play and held for the 10-9 victory as UB made things interesting netting the final three scores of the day.

For Bridgeport, sophomore Barbara Orsini (North Babylon, N.Y.) led the team with three goals on the day, and junior Courtney Forry (Reinholds, Pa.) had two goals and one assist.

Senior Ava Gambardella (West Haven, Conn.) had three assists and one goal for a four-point day for UB, and along with Murray, seniors Shannon Colligan (Greenwich, Conn.) and Ariana Weingrad (Kings Park, N.Y.) each had one goal for the hosts on Monday.

Purple Knights' goalkeeper Cheyanne Gangel (Oakridge, N.J.) had a fine afternoon making 11 stops in net.

Up next, the UB women's lacrosse team will travel to New Jersey to face Caldwell University on Thursday afternoon.  Game time is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.