Women's Swimming Meet Day: Lady Bears vs. Sarah Lawrence
BROOKLYN, N.Y. – St. Joseph's (2-5) comes off a month long hiatus looking to win their second meet in a row, hosting Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (HVIAC) foe Sarah Lawrence College (6-1) at Brooklyn Technical High School in the final home meet of the season on Friday, January 17th at 7:30 p.m. The Lady Bears will also celebrate Senior Night honoring seniors Haley Betancourt, Jaclyn Kennedy and LauraLynne Duffy.
Lady Bears Last Time Out
Helped by a pair of victories in the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay, St. Joseph's defeated sibling rivals St. Joseph's (L.I.), 52-43, on December 21st as part of the "East vs. West" showdown. The victory was the Lady Bears first ever over their rivals from Patchogue after dropping the five previous meetings dating back to 2009.
St. Joseph's got off to a quick start taking the 200-yard medley relay in dramatic style by .53 seconds with the quartet of Morgan Summers, Tina Wong, Jaclyn Montana and Rebecca Sacerio putting up a time of 2:17.37 to give the Lady Bears an early 7-0 lead.
St. Joseph's came into the 100-yard breaststroke trailing with Patchogue holding all the momentum, having won the previous eight events. However, Jillian O'Hara would step up and record a time of 1:29.26 to earn a five-second victory over Patchogue to give the Lady Bears a narrow 45-43 lead heading into the final relay of the meet.
The final event of the day, the 200-yard free relay, would prove to be the pivotal event of the day as a win by either team would seal the victory. The foursome of Summers, Erin Collins, Montana and O'Hara came through in the clutch for the Lady Bears, notching a four-second win to clinch the meet and end the reign of dominance held by the Golden Eagles.
Gryphons Last Time Out
Sarah Lawrence defeated Bard College, 124-54, on Saturday, December 14th for their fourth win in a row.
The Gryphons dominated the action winning nine of the 11 events led by a clean sweep of the 50-yard freestyle with two-time HVIAC Rookie of the Week Gabby Risica pacing the field with a time of 28.61 while Jacqueline Quirk and Dzana Ashworth took second and third place with times of 29.15 and 31.24, respectively.
One-time HVIAC Player of the Week Sam Amberchan picked up a pair of wins in the 200-yard medley relay (2:11.98) and in the 100-yard backstroke (1:14.45) for Sarah Lawrence. Two-time HVIAC Player of the Week Jay Pulitano posted two wins of her own in the 200-yard individual medley (2:34.78) and 100-yard breaststroke (1:24.07).
Series History/Last Meeting
Sarah Lawrence holds a 6-0 edge in the all-time series dating back to 2008. The two schools last met on January 19, 2013 in a meet that saw Summers and Tina Wong set three new school records, but the Lady Bears fell to the Gryphons, 106-79.
Accolades
Sacerio was named HVIAC Player of the Week on December 24th after overcoming a four-second deficit in the final leg of the 200-yard medley relay swimming a career-best 28.76 50-yard freestyle split, nearly three seconds faster than her previous best, to edge out St. Joseph's (L.I.) by .53 seconds.
O'Hara earned HVIAC Rookie of the Week honors on December 24th after collecting the lone individual event win for the Lady Bears against St. Joseph's (L.I.). The sophomore won the 100-yard breaststroke by five seconds with a time of 1:29.26 to give St. Joseph's the lead for good.