Joseph Marvin: Assistant Sports Information Director
Photo Credit: Tori Brayman '22
ROCKY MOUNT. N.C. – The Brevard College Tornados Women's Lacrosse team (6-6, 3-4 USAS) dropped a close match late to the N.C. Wesleyan Battling Bishops (1-10, 1-4 USAS) by a final score of 11-8 on Sunday afternoon in Rocky Mount, N.C.
The Battling Bishops scored six-straight goals in the second half to ultimately down the Tornados in the USA South Conference contest.
Hannah Scharf, Micaiah Vacchiano, and Hunter Denney were the offensive catalysts for the Tornados in the match. Scharf and Vacchiano each tallied three goals to lead BC, while Denney added two goals and an assist.
NCWC was led by an eight-point performance from Ale Cucinotta, who scored a game-high four goals while dishing out a game-high four assists.
Battling Bishop goalkeeper Millenia Crespo enjoyed a fantastic outing, recording an impressive 26 saves on 40 shots faced.
Brevard fell to NCWC despite outshooting by a 40-26 margin. The Tornados converted 8-of-9 clears, but the Battling Bishops held a 14-6 advantage on draw controls. BC could only convert 1-of-8 free position attempts as well. NCWC won in spite of racking up five yellow cards on the afternoon.
Vacchiano, Brevard's leading scorer in 2019, opened things up just over three minutes into the match by scoring to give the Tornados an early 1-0 lead.
Denney followed Vacchiano's effort up by scoring a power-play goal at the 21:56 mark, extending the Tornados' lead to 2-0.
The Battling Bishops knotted the match up quickly with back-to-back goals within just eight seconds of each other.
Scharf connected for her first goal of the afternoon with 20:52 left in the first half to give BC the lead back briefly before NCWC struck back with two-straight goals, retaking the lead 4-3.
The Tornados racked up three-unanswered goals, as Vacchiano (power play), Scharf, and Denney all scored. Denney recorded her first assist of the contest on Vacchiano's go-ahead goal.
With Brevard leading 6-4 late in the first half, NCWC's Cucinotta converted a free position attempt to draw the Battling Bishops within one score, 6-5, as the match headed to the intermission.
The first part of the second half proved defensive, as neither side broke through to score for 14-plus minutes. With 15:56 left to play in regulation, Micaiah Vacchiano scored to extend Brevard's advantage to two goals, 7-5.
The Battling Bishops would start a game-deciding six-goal run, beginning with back-to-back goals at the 11:40 and 11:15 marks to tie the game at 7-7. N.C. Wesleyan took advantage of a man-up opportunity followed by Cucinotta's third goal of the afternoon.
NCWC's Cucinotta, Grace Look, and Madeline Graham continued this scoring outburst with four goals, giving the Battling Bishops a controlling 11-7 lead with 2:45 left to play.
Scharf recorded her third goal of the afternoon with 43 seconds remaining, however, it proved too little too late as the Battling Bishops earned their first victory of 2019 by a final of 11-8 over the Tornados.
Brevard returns home next Saturday, April 6 to take on Methodist University (1-6, 0-4 USAS) at 5 p.m. at Ives-Lemel Family Field.
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