Games 12: Central Connecticut State (4-6, 0-5 NEC) at Mount St. Mary's (4-7, 2-3 NEC)
When: Fri, Apr. 9, 2010, 3 p.m.
Where: Waldron Family Stadium, Emmitsburg, Md.

Series Information: Mount St. Mary's leads 10-0
Last Meeting: Mount (17-8) 4-3-09
First Meeting: Mount (24-13) 4-21-00
Last CCSU Win: n/a

opening draw... Friday's match between Mount St. Mary's and Central Connecticut State marks the 11 meeting in the all-time series dating back to the 2000 season. The Mount has won all 10 contests against the Blue Devils, including a 17-8 decision last season.

about the blue devils... Central Connecticut State comes into the contest 4-6 overall and 0-5 in Northeast Conference play after falling 16-14 to Long Island on Sunday. Freshman A Betsy Vendel paced the Blue Devils with two goals and five assists against the Blackbirds. The current NEC Rookie of the Week leads the team with 22 goals and 19 assists for 41 points. Sophomore A Ashley Perkoski added three tallies and two assists on Sunday. The sophomore ranks third on the team with 18 goals and eight assists for 26 points. Freshman A Mackenzy Ryan ranks second on the squad with 19 markers and nine assists for 28 points. Freshman M Ali Roche paces the defense with 16 caused turnovers and 26 ground balls. Sophomore GK Erin Delancey has 124 saves, a 14.00 goals against average and a .470 save percentage.

last time we met... Breana Waraksa dished out a program-record six assists to lead Mount St. Mary's past Central Connecticut State 17-8 on Apr. 3, 2009.Katelyn Catanese and Ashley Johnson each added four markers to remaining tied for the team lead with 26 tallies on the year for the Mountaineers. Stephanie John paced the Blue Devils with five goals and an assist while Lyndsey Mastandrea tallied a goal and an assist in the loss.

last time out... Quinnipiac defeated Mount St. Mary's 13-5 on Saturday. Ashley Johnson, Esther Rufolo, Allie Fife, Jordan Certeza and Emily Kirby each recorded a goal for the Mount in the loss.

next on tap... Mount St. Mary's continues a three-game homestand against Bryant on Sunday and Johns Hopkins (Tuesday) will also visit Waldron Family Stadium.

kirby and kearney honored by league... After helping the Mount St. Mary's women's lacrosse team to two wins in NEC play, seniors Emily Kirby and Jackie Kearney were honored the league for the week of Mar. 22-28. Kirby was named NEC Player of the Week while Kearney was tabbed as the NEC co-Defensive Player of the Week. Kirby posted eight goals (on 11 shots) and three assists for 11 points. Kearney, who played stellar individual defense against some of the league's top point-producers last week, posted 10 ground balls, seven caused turnovers and four draw controls.

certeza honored by league... Jordan Certeza was named the Northeast Conference (NEC) Rookie of the Week for the week of Mar 8-14. It is her first conference honor. Certeza posted six goals and five assists for 11 points to help Mount St. Mary's to a 1-1 week. She collected two goals and three assists in a thrilling 15-14 double overtime victory at George Washington. Certeza went on to net a career-high four goals and added two assists for six points in an 11-10 setback to Longwood. 

in the month... The Mount is 68-56 all-time in the month of April. The squad is 37-19 at home, but just 31-37 away from home. The squad plays three times at Waldron Family Stadium and also has four road games scheduled in the month prior to the NEC Tournament.

a career day to write about... Sophomore Esther Rufolo notched her first collegiate hat trick against Lehigh on Feb. 20. The sophomore notched her second hat trick of her career along with one assist for a career-high four points against Holy Cross on Mar. 3. Junior Alexis Salerno scored a personal-best four tallies against Howard on Feb. 22. Senior Ashley Johnson scored a career-high seven goals in a 15-14 double overtime win against George Washington on Mar. 10. Freshman Jordan Certeza posted a career-high four goals against Longwood on Mar. 13. Senior Emily Kirby scored a career-high five times against Saint Francis (Pa.) on Mar. 26. Junior Lucy Pompa scored a career-high five goals against Robert Morris on Mar. 28.

in their debut... Freshman Jordan Certeza made her collegiate debut in the starting lineup against Lehigh on Feb. 20 while Kaitlyn Larrimore, Allie Fife and Natalie Loutchanioff saw action off the bench against the Mountain Hawks. Goalkeeper Sarah Leder saw her first collegiate action against Howard on Feb. 22.

remember the first time we scored... Senior Sydney Sykes (one goal, one assist) and freshmen Jordan Certeza (two goals, four assists), Kaitlyn Larrimore (one goal), Allie Fife (one goal, one assist) and Natalie Loutchaninoff (one goal) each recorded their first career points in the contest against Howard on Feb. 22.

preseason poll... The Mount St. Mary's women's lacrosse team has been picked fifth in the Northeast Conference (NEC) Preseason Coaches Poll. Two-time defending champion Sacred Heart was selected as the preseason favorite after receiving five first-place votes. Monmouth nabbed three first-place nods to finish second and Quinnipiac picked up the final two first-place votes to place third in the poll while Robert Morris, the Mount, Wagner, Long Island, Bryant, Central Connecticut State and Saint Francis (Pa.) rounded out the 10-team poll.

turning the program around... After starting the first eight campaigns of women's lacrosse at the Mount with a 61-70 record, the Mount has posted a 67-54 overall mark and 39-14 record in the Northeast Conference since the start of the 2004 season. The squad has notched three winning seasons, three league regular season championships (2004, 2005, 2007) and two NCAA Division I tournament berths (2004, 2005) in that stretch.

johnson and more johnson... Senior Ashley Johnson has 114 goals and 20 assists for 134 points in her career. The senior moved into sixth place on the program's all-time career goal list with 111 tallies after finding the twine three times against Robert Morris on Mar. 29. Next on the all-time goals list is Kirby Day (116, 2003-06). Johnson became the 17th player in program history to reach 100 points in her career and moved into ninth place on the all-time points list with three points against Sacred Heart on Apr. 1. Standing at 134 points, Johnson needs two points to move ahead of Lacey Morley (135, 1998-01) for eighth place and five points to jump ahead of Erin LaMotte (138, 2002-05). The senior posted a career-high seven goals in a 15-14 double overtime win against George Washington on Mar. 10, one shy of the single-game program record.

kearney a big draw...  Senior Jackie Kearney ranks seventh in program history with 97 career draw controls. Next on the list is Kim Keene (100, 2001-04). Kearney was named to the All-Northeast Conference second team as a freshman.

aly is all defense... Junior Aly Jost has been named to the All-Northeast Conference first team in her first two campaigns and was named the NEC Defensive Player of the Year in 2009. Jost paced the NEC with 47 ground balls and fueled the Mount with 19 caused turnovers as a sophomore. The junior needs nine caused turnovers to crack the all-time career Top-10. The junior became the 23rd player in program history with 100 ground balls after scooping up one ground ball against Denver on Feb. 28.

rufolo's a big draw... Sophomore Esther Rufolo leads the team with 31 draw controls in 2010 after ranking third on the team with 21 in her freshman campaign. She can crack the program's single-season Top-10 list in draw controls with four draws. The sophomore grabbed a career-high seven draw controls against Howard on Feb. 22 and against Holy Cross on Mar. 3. In addition to getting the offense started, Rufolo ranks fourth on the team with 15 goals and two assist for 17 points. She notched her first collegiate hat trick in the season opener against Lehigh on Feb. 20 and a career-high four points (three goals, one assist) against the Crusaders.

pompa pumps up the jam... Junior Lucy Pompa did it all for the Mount in 2009, ranking second on the team in ground balls (31), draw controls (26) and caused turnovers (15) to earn a spot on the All-Northeast Conference second team. The junior moved into ninth place on the program's all-time career draw controls list with two draw controls against Sacred Heart and now has 80 career draw controls. Pompa currently sits behind teammate Jackie Kearney on the all-time list. The junior notched her second career hat trick and third multi-goal performance with a personal-best five goals against Robert Morris on Mar. 28.

mctavish on the move in the net... Sophomore Brigid McTavish has moved into fifth place on the program's all-time career saves list with 200 stops and fifth in minutes played with 1404:32. Next on the save list is Mount assistant coach Jane Karger (412, 2005-08) while Randi Paige (2010.25) is up next on the minutes played list.

non-conference wins... Mount St. Mary's has won two non-conference games in 2010 after going 0-8 in non-league slate last season. The squad won two non-conference games in 2007 and three in 2006.

mount and overtime... Mount St. Mary's won its first overtime game since defeating Monmouth 8-7 in the Northeast Conference Championship Game on May 1, 2005 with its 15-14 double-overtime victory against George Washington on Mar. 10. It ended a three-game losing streak in overtime after falling to Quinnipiac (2006), Fairfield (2007) and Lehigh (2009) in the extra session since the win against the Hawks. The squad played its second extra session game of the year with a 9-7 loss against Sacred Heart on Apr. 1 The Mount is now 4-4 in overtime in program history.

the comeback... Mount St. Mary's rallied from a six-goal deficit to defeat George Washington 15-14 in double overtime on Mar. 10. The Mount trailed 13-7 with 13:49 left before senior Ashley Johnson notched a natural hat trick to trim the margin to 13-10. Mount St. Mary's scored three times in the final 1:59 to send the game to overtime before Johnson capped off her career-high seven-goal afternoon with the game-winner with six seconds left in the second overtime. It marked the first time the Mount rallied from a six-goal deficit since falling behind 6-0 to Denver in the first half on Mar. 19, 2000. The Mount then scored five goals to end the half and scored the game-winner with 8:13 left in the second half.

johnson's homecoming... Senior Ashley Johnson played in her home state for the first time in her collegiate career when the Mountaineers faced Denver and Holy Cross in Denver, Colo. on Feb. 28 and Mar. 3. The senior scored a goal in the 18-2 loss against the Pioneers and had two tallies against the Crusaders.

congrads coach... Head coach Sonia LaMonica picked up her first career head coach victory with a 21-1 win against Howard on Feb. 22.

about the coach... Sonia LaMonica begins her first season at the Mount in 2010. LaMonica comes to the Mount after serving as an assistant coach at Denver and Towson. A native of Darlington, South Australia, LaMonica led the Australian National Team to a gold medal at the 2005 World Cup Championships and a silver medal at the 2009 World Cup Championships. She was named to the 2005 IFWLA All-World team, the U21 South Australian Sportswoman of the Year and was a two-time member of the South Australian A-Grade All-Star team. A 2003 graduate of the University of Maryland, LaMonica was a three-year starter for the Terrapins. She earned first team All-America honors and was a candidate for the Tewaaraton Trophy as a senior after leading Maryland to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship. LaMonica won three ACC titles during her career and helped Maryland win the NCAA championship during the 2000 and 2001 seasons. She finished her college career with 111 goals, including 49 during her senior year when she served as a team captain, and had 55 assists.

local rivalry... Mount St. Mary's will play three teams from the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area this season.  The Mount will host Howard (W, 21-1) on Feb. 22 and Johns Hopkins on Apr. 13 and traveled to George Washington (W, 15-14 2OT). The Bison returned to the schedule for the first time since the 2005 season while the Blue Jays will be making their second trip to Emmitsburg and the first since the 1998 season.

conference honors... The Mount returns two players that received All-Northeast Conference recognition last season. Junior Aly Jost was named the NEC Defensive Player of the Year and to the All-NEC first team while junior Lucy Pompa was named to the All-NEC second team. Senior was named to the All-NEC first team in 2008 and senior Jackie Kearney was named to the All-NEC second team as a freshman.

the mount royal blood line...  Freshman goalkeeper Brigid McTavish is related to one of the best Mount St. Mary's men's basketball player in program history. McTavish's grandfather is Jack Sullivan, the Mount's men's basketball all-time leading scorer with 2,672 career points.

high school teammates in college... Senior local products Katie Bollinger and Sydney Sykes played together on the Winters Mill defense in Westminster, Md. In addition juniors Kelly Taylor and Aly Jost played together at Bel Air.

the local crew... Mount St. Mary's has four players on its roster from Carroll County. Senior Katie Bollinger (Westminster, Md.), sophomore Meaghan Conlan (Eldersburg, Md.), sophomore Brigid McTavish (Mount Airy, Md.), and senior Sydney Sykes (Westminster, Md.) all hail from the neighboring county.

new to the mountain... Along with first-year head coach Sonia LaMonica, freshmen Jordan Certeza, Allie Fife, Kaitlyn Larrimore, Kristin O'Donnell and Natalie Loutchaninoff join the team in 2010.

first women's lacrosse hall of famer... Former Mount St. Mary's women's lacrosse standout Jen Stocker will be inducted into the Mount Hall of Fame on Mar. 13 to become the first women's lacrosse player to be enshrined in the institutions sports hall of fame. Stocker is the program's all-time leader in goals (175) and points (230) while ranking second in shots (380) and fourth in ground balls (191). She was the first Mount player to register at least 40 goals in a season three times in her career and now is one of only two players to turn the trick after Katelyn Catanese accomplished the feat last season. She scored the second (56, 1997) and third (54, 1996) most goals in a single season and led the nation in 1997 with 75 points to be named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference co-Player of the Year. The Mount was 32-29 in the first four seasons as a program including winning the MAAC 1997 and 1998.

home sweet home, emmitsburg... Mount St. Mary's is 75-50 at home in its 15 seasons. In the past five campaigns, the Mount is 43-18 in Emmitsburg, including 27-3 against league opponents in that stretch. The Mount moved into the Waldron Family Stadium in 2006 and the squad is 15-9 in its new home.

all-time mark... Mount St. Mary's is 127-124 all-time in 15 seasons, including 75-50 at home, 49-67 on the road and 3-8 at a neutral site. The Mount is also 56-26 in the Northeast Conference play. The squad also boasts a 14-0 mark in the MAAC after winning the league in 1997 and 1998.