Box Score

(story courtesy USM Sports Information)

GORHAM, Maine  --  The University of Southern Maine women's lacrosse team raced out to a 9-1 lead midway through the first half, then withstood two University of New England charges to post a 15-12 victory Thursday afternoon at the Hodgdon Field.

The win was the second straight for the Huskies who improve to 6-8 overall.  The Nor'easters dropped their sixth straight game to slip to 3-12 overall.
 
Junior Jessica Knight (Alfred, Maine/Massabesic) paced a balanced USM attack scoring a game-high five goals.  Eight other players had at least one goal.  Sophomore goalie Rachel Lolley (Gorham, Maine) stopped nine shots.
 
Senior Amanda Barker (Gloucester, Mass.) led the UNE offense with four goals.  Sophomore Danielle Cate (Boscawen, N.H.) found the net three times, and junior Ginny Lee (York, Maine) chipped in a goal and an assist.  Sophomore goalie Tara Geraghty (Barrington, R.I.) had 14 saves.
 
The Huskies came out flying building a 9-1 lead in the opening 15 minutes of play.  Knight scored four times in the early surge.  Junior Erica Robertson (St. Albans., Vt./Bellows Free Academy), senior Caitlin
Albert (Scarborough, Maine), and sophomores Kelsey Inzer Randolph, Vt.), Mary Vaughan (Brunswick, Maine/Pomfret School) and Sarah Bonenfant (Scarborough, Maine) had the other goals.

Cate sparked a three-goal run for the Nor'easters to cut the margin to 9-4 before Knight tallied her fifth goal of the half, sending the Huskies to the break up 10-4.

UNE opened the second half with three unanswered goals to cut the deficit to 10-7 with 23:50 to play. Junior Liz DeGrandpre (Freeport, Maine), Barker and Lee had the goals.

USM responded with a five-goal run over a 10-minute span to regain apparent control.  Sophomore Kelsey Rodrigue (Lewiston, Maine) had two goals, including the game winner, in the decisive run.

Barker sparked a last desperate UNE charge over the final eight minutes, scoring three times in a five-goal run, but time ran out on the visitors.

Southern Maine closes the regular season on Saturday (2:30 p.m.) with a Little East Conference game against Keene State College.  UNE finishes the regular season Saturday (2:00 p.m.) traveling to Nichols College for a conference match.