Elmira College (5-8, 2-5 Empire 8) at Hilbert College (0-11)
Thursday, April 28, 2016 | 4:00 p.m. | Hamburg, NY - Hawk Field
Hilbert College Athletics Twitter: @HilbertAthletic

Elmira, NY -- The Elmira College women's lacrosse team will look to rebound from Monday's heartbreaking overtime loss to Hartwick College, as the Soaring Eagles hit the road to take on Hilbert College in non-conference action on Thursday at 4:00 p.m.

Last Time Out
Hartwick overcame a two-goal deficit in the second half to post an 11-10 overtime victory over the Soaring Eagles at Campus Field on Monday. After playing to a 6-6 tie at the half, Macy Huntley '19 and Kara Yakel '16 netted back-to-back goals to pull ahead 9-7 with 14:26 remaining in regulation. The Hawks, led by Lauren Rosenberg, battled back with a 3-0 run, including the go-ahead goal with 3:30 left in the period. EC looked to be in dire straits when the Purple and Gold were tagged with a yellow card at the 2:46 mark of the second half. Kelcey Crawford '18 atoned for the penalty by stripping Hartwick's Jessie Matt with 22 seconds left, setting up Moorea Spoljaric '16 to score the tying goal. Spoljaric received the ball along the goal-line extended, wrapped around the crease and shoveled an underhanded shot inside the near post to force overtime. Elmira won the initial draw control of the overtime period, but a lazy pass in the attacking zone sailed out of bounds, giving the ball back to the Hawks. Hartwick's Megan Young scored the game-winner on the ensuing possession.

More Records For Moorea
While the Soaring Eagles came up empty-handed against the Hawks, Spoljaric came away with two more milestones. The senior midfielder scored five goals and added one assist for a game-high six points, resulting in single-season records for points with 68 and goals with 58. Spoljaric surpassed the former records of 65 points and 56 goals set by Katya Outwater '07 during her junior campaign. Already the program's all-time leader in career goals, the team captain from Saugerties, NY, needs only three more points to leapfrog Outwater (210) for first place all-time in that category as well.

Series History
Thursday's matchup between the Hawks of Hilbert College and Elmira will mark the first between the two programs. Hilbert's women's lacrosse program is relatively new, having completed its inaugural season of NCAA competition in 2013.

Scouting Hilbert
The Hawks have found their introduction to NCAA women's lacrosse to be a difficult one. After winning a combined five games in their first two seasons, Hilbert has lost 25 consecutive games, dating back to the 2014 season finale. The Hawks are 0-11 heading into the final game of 2016 against Elmira. Junior Nikki Schneider has been a bright spot for Hilbert in the trying season. She leads the squad with 30 goals – including a season-high eight in a loss to Loras College – and is tied for the team lead with 28 draw controls. The third-year talent is the program's all-time leader in nearly every statistical category, including points (74) and goals (67). As a team, the Hawks are surrendering an average of 17.18 goals per game. First-year goalie Allison Austin has logged all 660:00 minutes between the pipes and has registered 118 saves. She turned in a fine performance in the 13-10 loss against Wells College back on April 14th with season highs in both saves (21) and save percentage (.618).

A Look Ahead
Elmira College has one more game left on the ledger for the 2016 regular season. The Purple and Gold finish off the year with a home contest against Stevens Institute of Technology on Saturday, April 30th, at 1:00 p.m. at Campus Field.