Stull Eclipses 100 Career Points In Goucher Women's Lacrosse Victory Against Gwynedd Mercy

BALTIMORE, Md.  – Shannon Stull (Westminster, Md./Francis Scott Key) came into the game needing one point to reach 100 for her career. She wasted little time in reaching the mark after she scored 40 seconds into the match and finished the game with six goals to lead Goucher College past Gwynedd Mercy University 26-14 in non-conference women's lacrosse action on Saturday. 

Stull entered Saturday with 90 goals and nine assist in 36 career games. Stull left no suspense as she twinkled the twine for the 91st time in her career 40 seconds into the match to become the first Gopher player to reach the 100-point mark since Erin Reifsnyder accomplished the feat in the 2013 season. She is the ninth player to eclipse 100 career points since 2006.  After reaching the 100-point plateau, the junior set her sights on 100 career goals and will go into the game at Wesley on Wednesday needing four tallies to join that club. The junior, who had a career-high nine draw controls along with four ground balls and three caused turnovers, leads the Landmark Conference in goals (32) and points (41).

For the second-straight game, Julia Gazzola (Hagerstown, Md./North Hagerstown) had a career day for Goucher. The freshman posted four goals and one assist in a 17-12 win against Bryn Mawr on Thursday before establishing a career-high six goals and two assists for eight points on Saturday. The two assists matched a career high she has recorded three times this season. The freshman now has four hat tricks this season. In addition, she grabbed a career-high 12 draw controls along with two ground balls and two caused turnovers. Gazzola, who has posted double digits in draw controls three times this season, leads the team with 54 draw controls while ranking second to Stull with 20 goals and nine assists for 29 points.

Camryn Agostino (South Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville) added a career-high three goals and four assists for seven points while Jordan Tice (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) recorded a tally and four helpers for a career-high five points on the afternoon. After scoring two goals in a match seven times in her career, Agostino broke through with her first collegiate hat trick while posting her second career multiple assist game. Tice came into her senior year with two career assists. The senior now has three goals and nine assists in her career and has registered a goal and six assists in her last two games with four of those assists resulting in tallies for Gazzola.

Alex DiGiovanni (York, Pa./Dover) and Alyssa Long (Pennsburg, Pa./Upper Perkiomen) also recorded hat tricks while Long finished with four points after handing out an assist in the winning effort.

Thursday Goucher got off to a slow start and then had a huge run in the second half to propel the team to the win against the Owls. The Gophers got the offense starting earlier on Saturday, using a 9-3 run to close the first half to take the lead it would not relinquish on the way to their fifth-straight victory.

Gazzola, who started the decisive rally on Thursday, tied the game at 3 off a Stull feed at 19:58. DiGiovanni gave Goucher the lead for good at 27:39 and 26 seconds later off passes from Agostino and Tice for a 5-3 edge.

After a Knight goal, Goucher rolled off the next five goals. Gazzola scored unassisted at 10:09 and off a connection from Tice at 9:05. Stull scored unassisted at 8:48 before Mackenzie Nase (Weare, N.H./John Stark Regional) found the twine off a Gazzola pass at 6:46 and Stull capped the 5-0 run with an 8-meter goal at 5:41 for a 10-4 lead.

Gwynedd Mercy scored two goals before a Long to Nase connection with four seconds left closed the scoring in the first quarter and gave the Gophers an 11-6 lead at the break.

The Knights scored to open the second half, but Goucher responded with three goals for a 14-7 lead. Soleil Gagne (Portmouth, N.H./Portsmouth) (24:19) and Gazzola (23:00) converted free-position goals and then Agostino found Tice at 22:48. 

The two teams traded goals with Tice to Stull (22:17), Tice to Gazzola (21:09) and Agostino to DiGiovanni (17:58) answering the Gwynedd Mercy scores to maintain a seven-marker lead.

Two Knights goals were responded with tallies by Stull (13:15) and Agostino (12:34). Stull scored a free-position goal at 8:28 sandwiched in between two Gwynedd Mercy goals. 

After the Knights posted a goal to cut the margin to 20-14, the Gophers scored the final six goals to earn a 26-14 victory. Gazzola started the spurt from a feed by Agostino at 6:42 before Long scored unassisted at 5:39 and 5:10. Gazzola set up Elizabeth Green (Easton, Pa./Lehigh Valley Charter for the Arts) at 4:38 before Agostino twinkled the twine at 3:00 and with 13 seconds left to seal the victory. 

Stull got the game started on a high note with a goal for her 100th career point. Long converted a free-position goal at 24:21, but the Knights held a 3-2 edge before the Goucher offensive attack got rolling for its second-straight win at Beldon Field. 

Nase added four ground balls and two caused turnovers. Abbie McHerron (Burnt Hills, N.Y./Burnt Hills) made six saves in 41 minutes while Gillian Sickler (Alexandria, Va./West Potomac) turned away two shots in the final 19 minutes.

The Gophers have scored 20 goals four times this season and finished the game on Saturday two goals from the single-game program standard. The team continues to be off to its best start since 2015 at 5-2.

Goucher returns to action on Wednesday at Wesley. Game time is 7 p.m.