Jan. 21, 2008

ELMWOOD, NJ - The Sacred Heart women's bowling team went 4-1 at Parkway Lanes to tie Fairleigh Dickinson with the best win-loss record of the day in the third NEWBC meet of the season. FDU bested SHU in overall pinfall for the day by 17 pins, so the Knights were the overall winner for the day. The Pioneers grabbed 34 out of a possible 50 points to keep them on top of the season standings.

In the first match, the SHU lost a close match against Fairleigh Dickinson. After being neck and neck with the Knights after nine frames, FDU finished strong while SHU suffered three open frames to lose 958-993. Sophomore Marissa Gagliardi led the team with a 222 followed by southpaw Sarah Pelletier with a 202.

The team kicked it up a notch for the second match against fifth-ranked New Jersey City University. The Pioneers rolled four 220+ games with a high of 224 by Sarah Pelletier to easily win with 1072-1017.

The scoring slowed in match three, as did the pace. The match was held up by mechanical problems and had to move lanes near the end to complete the match. The Pioneers prevailed with a 927-866 victory over Adelphi University, led by Gagliardi's 221 and a 214 by senior Amanda Lulu.

The team has a solid finish with two wins. Junior Jamie Manzo turned it on in match three, leading the team to a 939-796 victory over St. Peter's with her 216 game. The day ended with captain Lulu shooting a 225 along with Manzo's 209 for a convincing 993-903 over St. Francis - NY.

Gagliardi led the team with 1035 (207 average) which was second out of the field of thirty-eight players. Lulu was sixth with 1022 (204.4 average).

Sacred Heart is first going into the final conference meet on Monday, January 21st. The Pioneers have a 15-point lead over New Jersey City. They will have the chance to win their first conference championship since 2003 when they host the final meet on Monday at AMF Hamden Lanes. Competition starts at 10:45 with an estimated 4:00 ending.

Overall Team Standings

1.  SHU     106.0 points
2.  NJCU     91.0 points
3.  FDU        78.0 points
4.  AU          68.5 points
5.  SPC        60.0 points
6.  SFC        46.5 points