Erika Sherwood finished with four assists in Irondequoit's 7-6 win over Mercy tonight.  Sherwood was the driving force behind the come from behind win.  The Monarchs took an early 4-1 lead in the first half before the Eagles scored four unanswered goals (three assisted by Sherwood) to take the 5-4 lead less than 3 minutes into the second half.  The Eagles continued to play solid defense and not take too many chances and held off Mercy's late attempts to tie the game.

The first goal of the game was scored by the Eagles 8:11 into the contest with an unassisted goal by Meg Dano.  Shortly after Dano's goal, Mercy scored four unanswered goals to go up 4-1.  Izzy Stockman was as dominate this season as last season.  During the off-season she comitted to Marist next season. Today she scored five goals with the first three off assists from Sami Carey (2) and Caroline Murphy.  Both of Carey's assists came from behind the cage to a cutting Stockman and Murphy's was an inside feed from the top of the arc.  The fourth goal for Mercy was scored by Dylan Rawleigh with a feed form Kristyn Johnson.  Although that was Johnson's lone assist, she finished with 3 ground balls and a draw control for the Monarchs.  She often took the draw for Mercy and helped them in their six total draw wins.

Irondequoit did not stay down three goals for long and added two goals to their total before halftime.  Sherwood began her assists streak with a feed to Maddie Verhagen.  Verhagen's goal was her first Varsity goal and she was visible excited on the sidelines to join the Varsity squad.  The final goal of the opening half was off an assist from Dano.  She found Regan McGwin open on a cut across the arc with 1:05 remaining in the half.  Mercy led 4-3 going into halftime.  There were two major factors in the first half.  The first was ground balls controlled.  Irondequoit won the ground ball fight in the first half 18-5 and outshot Mercy 12-8.  The second major factor was Mercy goalie Dominique Rattelade.  She finished with the first half with seven saves (70%) and was the key reason that Irondequoit could not get points on the board.  She finished the game with 10 saves (59%).

In the second half, the teams continued to be evenly matched.  However, Irondequoit was much more patient with their shooting.  In the second half, they only added 7 more shots (2 on 8m fouls) with all 7 on cage.  They scored 4 (1 on 8m foul).  Mercy, on the other hand, dropped from 8 shots in the first to 4 shots in the second.  They scored on 2 of the four.  However, where Irondequoit's shots seemed patient and deliberate, Mercy did not take enough opportunities at the cage.  Of the 3 non-8m shots all 3 were taken by Stockman (2 of which were goals).  In addition, they had 6 chances off of 8m fouls and only shot on 1 (a save by Irondequoit's Lydia Fregosi).

Three goals were scored within the first four minutes.  Irondequoit added two with Sherwood assisting Maddie Green and McGwin 0:26 apart to go from one goal down to leading by one goal.  Mercy kept the game close and tied the score for the third time with Stockman scoring off a feed from Carey.  There was a lull in play until 7 minutes left in regulation.  Bridget Inclema scored with a feed from behind the cage from Sherwood.  90 seconds later, Maira Brennan scored off an 8m free position shot to give the Eagles a two goal lead with 5:22 remaining.  Mercy scored the last goal with 0:53 remaining on an impressive feat of athleticism by Stockman.  She grabbed the pass from Carey just outside the goal and turned to shot underhand past Fregosi.  Irondequoit grabbed possession and held off any advances the Monarchs could put together.  Overall, the game was a close contest that was back and forth throughout.

In the cage for Irondequoit, Fregosi finished with 4 saves.  Brennan led with 5 ground balls and Caitlyn Merkel led with 3 draw controls.  For Mercy, Stockman led in all categories except assists with 5g, 2 draws, 5 ground balls and 3 cause turnovers.  Carey led in assists with 4 (all to Stockman).