Junior Rachel Ryan scored three times and added three assists and Francesca Messura netted three goals as Hilton defeated the Greece Thunder 12-6 in a girls lacrosse game played in near freezing temperatures at LeBeau Field.
Ryan opened the scoring four minutes into the contest as she carried the ball from her own end 50 yards before blowing past the defense for a 1-0 Hilton lead.
Sophomore Payton Cook stationed behind the net and found Brooklyn Merola at 6:04 and freshman Lauryn Simmons scored just 15 seconds later off a pass from Ryan to extend the lead to 3-0.
The Cadets scored twice in the 13th minute as Messura’s intended pass found its way to the back of the net just 50 seconds before Ryan netted her second of the game after a pass from behind the net by Brenna Hibbard.
Thunder junior Chelsea Bauld got her team on the board with an unassisted goal at 16:17 of the first half, but Hilton countered off a turnover when Ryan passed to Hibbard to make it 6-1 Cadets.
Greece senior Liana Bucciarelli scored twice before the half sandwiching a Hilton goal by Nina Orlowski with an assist from eighth-grader Amanda Hilderbrandt.
The Thunder opened the second half with a goal by Amanda Nahar to pull to 7-4, but the Cadets countered with a two consecutive tallies to go ahead 9-4. The first was scored by Ryan with an assist from Hibbard and the second was a quick-hitter pass from Ryan to Simmons.
Thunder junior Seanna Beikirch scored twice over the final 12 minutes, but Hilton countered with two goals by Messura and another from Hilderbrandt to finish the scoring.
In addition to Ryan’s three goal-three assist effort and Messura’s three goals, Hilton’s Hibbard had one goal and two assists and Hilderbrandt had a multi-point effort with one goal and one assist. Senior goalie Ashley Bianchi was credited with ten saves for the Cadets to earn the win.
