Women laxers defeat Erie 18-8

Herkimer, NY – The Herkimer women's lacrosse team played their best game of the season on Saturday afternoon and defeated Erie CC 18-8. The visiting Kats had won an impressive victory over Niagara in their last outing and were ranked 9th among the 17 junior colleges that play women's lacrosse. The Generals, however, were back to full strength and were ready to play.

Freshman Shileeka Williams ("Shi") had a magnificent day, scoring six goals and assisting on three others. Senior Ariel Montes contributed four goals, and freshman Nicole Evans netted three.

The Generals dominated play in the first half, then managed the scoring from that point on.

The game was just 43 seconds old when Williams cut through the Erie defense and scored. That was just a hint of what was to come. A minute later, Ariel Montes broke in on goal, with Courtney Canavan on her left wing. Montes pulled the trigger, and Herkimer led 2-0.

Alexia Brown was in goal for the Generals and got the job done once again. Herkimer was dominating play, but the Kats still got some shots on goal. Brown made three big saves in the early going. That set the tone for the first half in which Brown and her fellow defenders completely shut down the Erie offense.

Williams scored Herkimer's third goal right around the 10-minute mark, after taking a nice feed from Nicole Evans. Evans netted the Generals' fourth goal a minute later, after receiving the ball from teammate Whitney Brown.

Photo: Nicole Evans tallies the fourth Herkimer goal

Seconds later, Courtney Canavan worked a play with Evans and Montes. Canavan scored. 5-0 Herkimer. Williams then snared the ball off the draw, raced toward the Erie goal, and fired it home. Herkimer had scored four goals in just two minutes. 6-0.

Williams was particularly impressive in the first half. Basketball fans had seen her coast-to-coast speed many times this past winter, but Williams has many lacrosse skills beyond her speed. She used smart fakes and dodges and great field sense to repeatedly find her way through the Erie defenders.

Whitney Brown added the seventh Herkimer goal with a free-position shot. That started another offensive barrage by the Generals. Within the next two minutes, Emilie Coufal, Williams again off a draw, and Montes all scored. 10-0, with 6:46 remaining in the half.

Photo: Emilie Coufal scoring Herkimer's eighth goal

Williams finished the first-half scoring with 2:29 left. The Generals led 11-0 after a remarkable 30 minutes of lacrosse.

The second half began, and soon the Kats scored their first goal. From that point on, the two teams basically traded goals. Erie scored eight goals in the half, but the Generals never let them close the gap to fewer than 10 goals. One General who did not score in the first half, Raven Lucien, scored her team's 15th goal. The final score was Herkimer 18, Erie 8.

After the game, Head Coach Dianna Ste-Marie was happy with the quality of the Generals' play. "This is the team I knew I had all along. I knew they had it in them," stated the coach, who added, "They went out there today with their minds already made up that they were going to win, and it showed. So proud of my Herkimer ladies!"

Photo: Shi Williams finishes the first-half scoring

The team's next outing will be on Wednesday in Watertown, with SUNY Jefferson.

Nick Scribe, website writer

Herkimer scoring (unofficial): Williams 6g 3a, Montes 4g, Evans 3g 1a, Canavan 1g 2a, W. Brown 1g 1a, Coufal 2g, Lucien 1g