Tribunes capture fourth straight national crown

ROCHESTER - For the fourth consecutive season, the MCC women's lacrosse team ended the season with perfection.

The Tribunes defeated Onondaga Community College 14-7 on Sunday to claim the program's fourth straight National Junior College Athletic Association championship.  The win put the finishing touches on a season in which Monroe won all 18 games to run its overall winning streak to an incredible 68.

MCC has now won six NJCAA women's lacrosse championships overall.

Ahead 8-5 at the break, the Tribunes took over by scoring the first five goals in the second half to take a commanding 13-5 lead.  Christie Hahn, who was named the tournament's Most Valuable Offensive Player, assisted on two of the goals and scored another as Monroe took control.

The teams then traded goals down the stretch, and the seconds ticked off on yet another MCC title.

Charity Warner garnered Most Valuable Defensive Player honors for the Tribunes. The freshman spear-headed a hard-nosed MCC defense that was able to contain the potent Lazer attack.

Warner's full array of skills were on display early in the game for Monroe. After an OCC turnover in the Tribune end, Warner scooped up the ground ball and raced the length of the field before beating the Lazer goalie to tie the game at one less than five minutes in.

OCC regained the lead before Warner found Devon McKercher for a score to knot it at 2.

The Lazers then went ahead 3-2 on a goal by Madison Pritchard with 21:52 left in the opening half, but it would be the last lead OCC would have.

Taylor Excell, Zoe Hendricks, and Dana Isaacs scored in succession as Monroe went up 5-3. The teams then traded goals before Nicole Beatson and Elle MacMillan scored down the stretch to put MCC up 8-5 at the intermission.

The Tribunes then stormed out of the locker room with the 5-0 surge that took up half of the final stanza and put Monroe in control. Morgan Hollenbeck got it started early in the half before Beatson and Isaacs scored to make it 11-5.

Beatson and Hahn followed with two more, and the Tribunes were up by eight with 15:52 to play.

Onondaga tried to climb back into it, but Monroe goalie Sarah Brown stepped up with five big second-half saves to close out the championship.

Brown finished with nine saves total and was named to the All-tournament team, along with Beatson, Hollenbeck, and Isaacs. Beatson finished with four goals and an assist for Monroe, while Isaacs and Hollenbeck added two goals apiece. Hahn finished with a goal and two assists.

Hollenbeck and Julia Ciavaglia added four ground balls apiece and Melissa Moran tallied three ground balls and three draw controls.

Pritchard finished with three goals and an assist and Jaycie Annable added one goal and one assist for the Lazers. Pritchard, Annable, Cheyenne Burnam, and Kristyn Drake were named to the All-tournament team for OCC.