MORRISVILLE, N.Y. – The Morrisville State College women's lacrosse team, plagued by a rough first half, dropped a 17-8 decision to visiting SUNY Canton Sunday afternoon in non-conference action in Morrisville.

The loss drops the Mustangs to 1-5 on the season, while Canton improves to 4-2 overall.

Tressa Goolden and Robyn Carroll accounted for 17 of Canton's 22 points, combining for a total 12 goals and seven assists to lead the visitors in the win. Goolden posted a team best seven scores, while adding four assists, as Carroll contributed five goals and assisted another three.

Becca Kieffer had 15 saves for the Roos to register the win between the pipes.

Morrisville State had a best three goals and two assists from senior midfielder Shelby Wood (Duanesburg, N.Y.) while Ally Zlinsky (Owego, N.Y.) added two tallies to round out the scoring leaders.

Cailin Dunphy (Putnam Valley, N.Y.) posted the loss, turning away five in the opening half, before being replaced by Kallie George (Tully, N.Y.) who registered eight stops in the second half of action.

The Roos opened with a 7-0 run and held the Mustangs scoreless for nearly 25 minutes, before Morrisville State was able to put one on the scoreboard, a free position tally by Jennel Paul (Brooklyn, N.Y.) at the 5:45 mark.

Canton added three additional scores over the final three minutes of the contest to the Mustangs one, a tally by Wood with 1:16 to go in the opening period, to claim the 10-2 advantage at the break.

Morrisville State was outgained in the ground ball game 15-7 in the opening stanza and had 13 turnovers.

In the second, Zlinsky rallied the Mustangs with a score just two minutes in, but that momentum quickly shifted to Canton who posted two straight for the nine goal advantage.

Morrisville State got back to back tallies from Wood and Megan Carlin (Pawling, N.Y.) to make it a seven goal game, but again Canton responded with their own tally to put the visitors up 13-5 midway through the period.

After trading scores over the next five minutes, Canton rattled off three straight for a 17-7 advantage with 2:14 to go.

Wood added a final score with 16 seconds remaining on the clock on a free position.

Canton held the 42-32 advantage in shots on the day, and edged Morrisville State 28-20 in ground balls. The Roos also dominated the center circle in draws 17-10.

Morrisville State returns to the field Wednesday night, traveling to SUNY Polytechnic to resume North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) action.

Morrisville State's curricula are enriched with applied learning and pave the way for opportunity at both the Morrisville and Norwich campuses. An action-oriented, interactive learning lab, the college is a national leader in technology and has been lauded for its exemplary, innovative and effective community service programs.

In addition to being named to the 2014 President's Higher Community Education Service Honor Roll, the college was recognized by U.S. News and World Report as an institution in the top tier of the Best Regional Colleges list and ranked second among regional colleges nationwide for outperforming its anticipated graduation rate. For more information visit www.morrisville.edu.

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