GENEVA, N.Y. --The William Smith College lacrosse team overwhelmed Gettysburg College 19-6 to capture the 2001 Eastern College Athletic Conference Mid-Atlantic Women's Lacrosse Championship. On her graduation day, senior midfielder Meghan Genovese (Geneva/Geneva, N.Y.) closed her career with a personal best six goals to earn the tournament's Most Valuable Player award. Sophomore attacker Megan Shea (Mountain Lakes/Mountain Lakes, N.J.) also had six points, with five goals and an assist.
The Bullets drew first blood just two minutes into the contest as first-year defender Amy Farrell (Upper Dublin/Ambler, Pa.) buried a pass from junior attacker Anna Haugen (Bethpage/Bethpage, N.Y.). First-year attacker Gretchen Lasda (West Genesee/Camillus, N.Y.) tied the score at the 22:01 mark and Shea put the Herons in front for good 49 seconds later. Sophomore midfielder Amanda Wynn (Loomis Chaffee/Aspen, Colo.) made it a 3-1 game with 18:12 to go in the half followed by Shea's second, four minutes later. Gettysburg cut the lead to 4-2 on a goal by sophomore attacker Megan Murphy (Wilton/Wilton, Conn.) before Genovese netted back-to-back goals to start a 10-0 Heron run. Shea closed the first half scoring, finishing a Wynn pass with 16 seconds left to give William Smith a 7-2 halftime lead.
The Herons opened the second half with the first seven goals to build a 14-2 advantage. The Bullets got two second half goals from junior attacker Becky Bucha (John Jay/Waccabuc, N.Y.), but never got within 10 goals as William Smith cruised to the 19-6 victory.
In addition to the 12 points from Genovese and Shea, Wynn finished with two goals and two assists. Lasda added two goals and the other senior on the team, midfielder Maura Reilly (Miss Porter's School/Newington, Conn.), finished her career with a goal. Bucha's two goals led Gettysburg and Haugen, Murphy, and first-year attacker Julika Blankenship (Kent County/Crumpton, Md.) each had a goal and an assist.
In goal first-year Rebecca Splain (Middlebury Union/Middlebury, Vt.) made nine saves for the Herons (15-2), while first-year Elizabeth Borucki (Shawnee/Medford, N.J.) finished with eight stops for the Bullets (14-6).
Shea's weekend (7-3) gives her 77 points (49-28) for the season, placing her ninth on the William Smith single-season points list. Shea's 28 assists ties her for seventh on the school's single-season assists list with Lisa Krug '99. The Herons entered the postseason ranked 12th in the IWLCA poll, while the Bullets held the 11th spot. Today's win gave the William Smith lacrosse team its second ECAC Championship. The other came during the Herons' last ECAC appearance in 1985.
--HWS SPORTS--
