BROOKVILLE, N.Y. -- Holding a slight 4-3 edge at halftime, top-ranked LIU Post opened the latter stanza on a 9-1 tear, en route to a season-opening 14-7 rout of Bloomsburg on Saturday at Hickox Field.
With the result, Head Coach Meghan McNamara got her 100th career victory. She is now just four wins off the pace from surpassing Karen MacCrate as the program's all-time winningest coach. MacCrate led the LIU Post women's lacrosse team from its inception in 2000 through '07, and guided the Pioneers to a pair of Division II national championships.
During that nine-goal streak, senior attacker/midfielder Samantha Losco notched three goals. Senior attacker Jackie Sileo and senior midfielder Katie Rotan netted two tallies apiece. Sileo also assisted on one of Rotan's markers.
The Pioneers (1-0) came out of the gate strong in the opening half, scoring the first three goals, two of which came from Rotan in a span of 2:40. But, the Huskies (0-1), coached by former LIU Post All-American Mallory Poole, answered with three of the next four tallies to close the gap to 4-3 at the intermission. Junior attacker Julie Falk accounted for two of the goals in the spurt.
Losco and Sileo tied for the game-high in scoring with five points. Rotan amassed four goals and four draw controls. Senior defender Melissa Rohr accumulated four ground balls. Junior defender Emily Hanifan scooped up two ground balls and caused a pair of turnovers.
In the cage, senior goaltender Katie Hannan made a game-best 12 saves for the Pioneers. Her counterpart, Abbey Burnett, turned aside seven shots.
Overall, LIU Post had the leg up in shots (29-22) and ground balls (15-8), while Bloomsburg won the draw battle (14-9). The green and gold were also 17 of 19 (89.4 percent) on clears, and 1 of 2 on free-position shots.
