Senior Amanda Barker tallied a team-high four goals in her final regular-season contest
Box Score
(portions of the story courtesy Nichols College)
DUDLEY, Mass. – The University of New England women's lacrosse team snapped a six-game losing streak with an 11-6 The Commonwealth Coast Conference victory over Nichols College Saturday afternoon.
Led by four goals and an assist from Amanda Barker (Gloucester, Mass.), the Nor'easters improve to 4-12 overall (3-6 TCCC) and will play an opening-round playoff game Tuesday at Roger Williams University. The Hawks are seeded second, while the Nor'easters sport the tournament's No. 7 seed. Game time is tentatively scheduled for 4:30 p.m., pending approval of the TCCC Office.
Kate McCarter (Bellingham, Mass.) added three points on two goals and an assist for the Nor'easters, while Danielle Cate (Boscawen, N.H.) chipped in with a pair of scores. Mallory Long (Lewiston, Maine) played a strong all-around game with five ground balls, five draw controls and four caused turnovers.
KJ Forand (Plymouth, Mass.) paced the Bison with two goals, while Katie Dobbs (Mont Vernon, N.H.) netted her first career goal.
UNE jumped out to a 3-0 lead within the first seven minutes, but goals from Emily Yourie (Ellington, Conn.) and Forand brought the Bison back within one at 18:34.
Cate struck next for the Nor'easters and the teams traded goals for the remainder of the half with the visitors getting the final say as Jessy Dvorak (Windsor, Conn.) potted an unassisted score with 41 seconds left for a 6-4 advantage at the break.
Nichols' Anna Schmitt (Longmeadow, Mass.) scored on a free-position tally to open the second half to again bring Nichols within one at 5-6, but McCarter responded with her second of the day four minutes later at 22:15 to extend the visitors' lead back to two.
Forand scored her second of the afternoon two minutes after, but four-straight UNE goals over the remainder of the game put the victory out of reach.
Nichols goalkeeper Mary Michaud (Agawam, Mass.) made 19 saves in the loss, while UNE netminder Tara Geraghty (Barrington, R.I.) stopped 10 Bison attempts.
