Blackbird lacrossers gets first NEC win
Stroup scores four goals to triumph over Mount St. Mary's
Following a winless 2013 campaign, the LIU Brooklyn women’s lacrosse team is finally beginning to see the fruits of its labor this year.
Buoyed by four goals from freshman Danita Stroup and a pair of hat tricks by fellow first-year players Tori Shinkowitz and Jenn Peters, the Blackbirds (3-10) picked up their first Northeast Conference victory of the season with Sunday afternoon’s 12-8 win over visiting Mount St. Mary’s at LIU Field.
“This is a huge team win for us,” said second-year Blackbirds coach Allison Nuzzi. “The girls have been putting in a lot of time and it’s great to see them experience success.”
After opening the season with seven consecutive defeats, LIU broke through with a 20-9 win over Howard University on Alumni Night here in Downtown Brooklyn on March 21. They knocked off Manhattan College at LIU Field four days later to complete their first winning streak since April 3-9, 2010.
Though they’ve only won an average of one game per season over the past four years, the Blackbirds have already tripled that total in 2014, and appear poised to continue building under Nuzzi, who arrived Downtown after a successful stint as an assistant coach at Hofstra.
The Blackbirds’ strong offensive showing against the Mount was backed by strong goaltending from sophomore Alexis Maldonado, who made nine saves to protect LIU’s breakthrough win.
“Defense put stops together and finished,” Nuzzi added. “Alexis Maldonado had an outstanding game in the net. We are very proud of everyone and look forward to getting back to work this week.”
Hoping to make it three wins in a row, the Blackbirds will travel to Sacred Heart on Friday afternoon for their regular-season road finale.
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The Brooklyn College women’s softball team continued to roll this week, extending its season-high winning streak to nine games with a doubleheader sweep (7-1 and 16-2) of York College on Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Bulldogs (17-9 overall, 6-2 CUNYAC) got a strong two-way effort from senior standout Amanda Bisz, who yielded an unearned run over six strong innings from the hill in the opener. Bisz, who earned CUNYAC Player of the Week honors Monday, also drove in three runs at the plate in Game One.
In the nightcap, junior Kayle Hill gave up one earned run over four innings in the five-inning affair while going 2-for-3 with four RBIs and three runs scored at the dish for BC. She was tabbed CUNYAC’s Pitcher of the Week after going a perfect 5-0 with a 2.24 ERA in five appearances, including four starts.
The Brooklyn native had her best performance against John Jay, tossing a shutout in the opener of a doubleheader, allowing just three hits, while walking one and striking out seven. She came on in relief in the nightcap, surrendering three hits over 5 and 1/3 frames to earn her second win of the day.
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LIU Brooklyn senior baseball star John Ziznewski has been raking at the plate and racking up honors.
The Staten Island native was named the Northeast Conference Player of the Week for the second straight time Monday and also was selected as one of the top performers in the entire nation by NCAA.com.
Ziznewski retained the NEC Player of the Week award after reaching double digits in hits and RBIs for the second week in a row.
LIU’s starting shortstop batted .500 (11-for-22) with 11 runs scored and 10 RBIs over a five-game span that saw the Blackbirds pick up four victories. Ziznewski smashed three doubles and a pair of home runs on the way to a .909 slugging percentage for the week. He drew one walk and was hit by a pitcher three times.
Up next for the Blackbirds (5-3 NEC) is key four-game Easter Weekend series against defending league champions Bryant (3-1), beginning with Thursday afternoon’s 1 p.m. opener at LIU Field.
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The St. Joseph’s (Brooklyn) baseball squad equaled its longest winning streak of the season by making it four in a row against Cairn University in Langhorne, Pa., on Monday afternoon.
Senior Mike Cundari finished 5-for-7 with three RBIs as the Bears set a school record with 14 stolen bases en route to outslugging Cairn, 16-12.
Eight different Bears recorded at least one hit and Domenick Camerada put together a 3-for-5 effort with a triple, two runs scored and two RBIs. His brother, Michael, added a pair of hits and two RBIs for St. Joseph’s.
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