Johnston’s Late Goal Leads Women’s Lacrosse to Win

Thursday, February 25

West Point, N.Y.

3 PM

Army West Point

2-1

LIU Brooklyn

0-2

LIU Brooklyn

Army West Point

Johnston’s Late Goal Leads Women’s Lacrosse to Win

February 25, 2016 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Sophomore Amy Johnston scored the deciding goal with four seconds left to send the Army West Point women's lacrosse team to a dramatic 10-9 victory over LIU Brooklyn on Thursday afternoon at Michie Stadium.

Johnston won a draw with 13 seconds remaining in the second half before finding the back of the net nine seconds later to give Army its second straight win and improve the Black Knights to 2-1. LIU Brooklyn slips to 0-2 after the defeat.

"We were really fortunate the ball was in Amy's hands," said head coach Kristen Waagbo. "She made a great decision to push it down the field herself and finish on the shot."

Johnston tallied three goals and a game-high four assists, while also leading all players with eight draw controls. Sophomore Rachel Hornick netted four goals and freshman Manuela Cortes scored twice and added three ground balls.

Junior Erin Jollota finished with one marker for the hosts, while classmate Shelby Lindsay collected four ground balls. Freshman Kayla Rowley registered seven saves in her third career start.

Jenn Peters led LIU Brooklyn with four goals, while five others accounted for one goal each. Rorie Crum tallied a team-high four draw controls and Tori Shinkowitz totaled four ground balls.

Each side scored two goals in the opening 30 minutes, with the Blackbirds striking first on a tally from Peters 5:00 into the contest. The Black Knights had an answer at the first half's 15:46 mark, as Hornick scored to knot the game up at 1-1.

LIU Brooklyn went on to take leads to 2-1 and 3-2, but Army responded with a goal of its own each time, as the score stood 3-3 following a free-position goal from Cortes 7:25 into the second frame.

The hosts took their first lead just 27 seconds later, when Jollota found her way behind the Blackbird defense after receiving a pass from Johnston and scored to put the Black Knights on top, 4-3.

Army added three more goals during the ensuing 7:46 to extend its scoring run to 5-0 and build the lead to 7-3 by the 14:21 mark of the second half.

The Black Knights maintained an advantage of at least three goals until Peters tallied her second in a row and brought the Blackbirds to an 8-6 deficit that forced an Army timeout with 9:51 to play.

Hornick's fourth goal of the afternoon made the score 9-6 with 5:50 on the clock, but LIU Brooklyn answered with three straight markers, including a free-position goal from Peters with 13 seconds remaining. Johnston's go-ahead strike with four seconds left sealed the win for Army, which ended its three-game homestand with a win.

"I think this was really a tale of two halves for us," Waagbo added. "We came out flat in the first half and turned the ball over a lot. I'm happy with how we came out in the second half. We were able to compete harder on 50-50 balls. Wins help us to buy into our vision for the program. We still have so much we need to work on, but we have a lot of great things we can move forward with heading into the next game."

The Black Knights play their first away contest on Sunday, Feb. 28, when they travel to face UMass Lowell at 1 p.m.

GAME NOTES: Hornick scored a season-high four goals … Johnston tallied her second hat trick of the year and finished with seven points to mark the most by an Army player in a single game … Johnston's four assists are also the most for the Black Knights this season ... Rowley improves to 2-1 in net on the season … Army held an 11-10 advantage in draw controls.