MADISON, N.J. (March 21, 2016) – FDU-Florham claimed the 2016 chapter of the women's lacrosse Battle of Madison Avenue with an 8-6 victory over Drew University across the street on Monday evening.
 
Junior midfielder Morgan Mason continued her scoring streak, netting two and giving her seven goals over the last two games. Sophomore midfielder Juliana Strazulo also added a pair of goal, while sophomore midfielder Maddie Spiess ran her team-leading goal total to 19 with a tally in the second half. That mark ranks second in the Landmark Conference heading into the league opener on Friday.
 
Sophomore midfielder Nicole Kinney scored her eighth goal of the season in the rivalry setback. Drew falls to 2-5 on the season.
 
Goalies prevailed in the opening 10 minutes, with junior goalkeeper Gianna Minogue making two saves to keep the Devils (2-4) off the board. The Rangers were the first on the board 10 minutes in after a good clear attempt led to an opening shot by Strazulo, who shook a defender, cleared space and fired home the 1-0 lead for Drew. The Devils tied it 1-1 on a free position shot at the 15:20 mark, but Drew took the lead right back at 11:59 as Mason scored to keep her stick hot.
 
The Devils rebounded quickly with another equalizer just one minute later, and followed it up another minute later with the 3-2 advantage. A Devils' woman-up goal with 6:46 to play in the opening half made it 4-2, which ended up being the score at half, but it could have been more. A subsequent shot rang the crossbar, and the Rangers defense came up with three caused turnovers to end the half down just two goals.
 
It took just 2:09 into the second half for Spiess to cut the FDU-Florham lead in half. But as has been the theme up to this point, the Devils were quick to answer. The Devils pushed their lead back to two, then to three within the next three minutes. Down 6-3, the Rangers needed offense and looked to the defense to generate it.
 
Junior defender Cailyn Breski came up with a caused turnover, a ground ball and started the transition. The possession ended with a shot by Kinney and a goal to bring the deficit to 6-4.
 
Continuing the theme, the Devils needed just over two minutes to get its three-goal lead back. Despite a surge of shots by Mason, Strazulo and sophomore midfielder Sage Johnson, the Devils held on and eventually took its largest lead of the game, 8-4, with 11:12 to go.
 
Drew launched a comeback attempt with five minutes to play as Mason converted a free position shot on a woman-up opportunity. Then with 30 seconds left and down a woman this time after a Drew yellow card, Strazulo scored the woman-down goal to make it 8-6. Too much time came off the clock, however, and the final score was set in the 2016 Battle of Madison Avenue.
 
Drew outshot the Devils 19-16 and also won the battle on the turf with 19 groundballs to FDU-Florham's 13. The Devils edged the Rangers in draw controls, 9-7, while Drew went 1-for-8 on free position shot attempts.
 
The Rangers open Landmark Conference play at home on Friday, March 25 at 3:00 p.m., when they host Susquehanna University at Ranger Stadium.