New Canaan, CT –

The Long Island Sound (2-0) continued their winning ways in week two of UWLX action with a 17-7 victory over the Philadelphia Force (0-2). Newcomers led the way for the Sound, as they were paced by four goals apiece from Courtney Fortunato (Notre Dame’17) and Christina Esposito (Northwestern ’17).

The Sound jumped out to an early 3-0 lead with goals from Fortunato, Esposito, and one of Forunato’s college teammates Casey Pearsall. Sound goalkeeper Kelsey Gregerson (Hofstra ’15) and the rest of the defense kept the Force off the board for the first 10 minutes of the game, until Kara Mupo (Northwestern ’15) scored twice to cut the lead to one. The Force tied the game on a Danielle Eppler (Virginia ’15) goal, but that is as close as they would get the rest of the way.

Long Island scored 10 of the last 11 goals in the first half, leading 10-5. Fortunato led the way with all four of her goals and Kelly McPartland (Maryland ’15) added two. The lone Force player to score during that time was Becky Lynch (North Carolina ’12) who scored a two-point goal from outside the 8-meter as she caught Gregerson unaware.

Long Island switched goalies at the half and Caylee Waters (North Carolina ’17) made her debut. The Sound defense didn’t miss a beat, and it was more of the same as they held Philadelphia scoreless for the first 14 minutes of the half. Esposito scored the first two of the half before another rookie Devon Parker (Syracuse ’17) scored her first of the game to push the lead to 13-5.

Nicole Graziano (Florida ’16) and Barb Sullivan (Notre Dame (’16) scored second half goals for the Force, and goalkeeper Emily Leitner (UPenn ’12) did all she could in goal, ending the night with double digit saves, but the offensive firepower of the Sound was too much as they came away with the 17-7 victory.  

Philadelphia is back in action on Sunday June 11, as they take on the Baltimore Ride in Bel Air, Maryland at 2:00 p.m.

Long Island looks to remain undefeated in the battle of the unbeatens when they visit UMass-Amherst to play the Boston Storm Friday June 9 at 6:00 p.m.

Tickets are on sale by visiting www.unitedwlax.com.