Amanda Barker carved her way through the Salve defense, tallying a game-high five goals
Box Score
(portions of the story courtesy Salve Regina)
NEWPORT, R.I. – Senior Amanda Barker (Gloucester, Mass.) scored five goals to lead the University of New England women's lacrosse team to a 19-8 win over Salve Regina University in The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC) action Sunday afternoon at the Lawrence Avenue Field.
Sophomore Kate McCarter (Bellingham, Mass.) added four goals and an assist for the Nor'easters (2-6, 2-2, TCCC), who snapped a two-game losing skid and evened the all-time series with SRU at six wins apiece. Senior Brittany Marino (Mt. Sinai, N.Y.) and junior Erika Curtin (Medford, N.Y.) each had three goals for the Seahawks, who slipped to 2-5 (1-3 TCCC) with the loss.
UNE opened the scoring when Ginny Lee (York, Maine) notched her sixth goal of the season at 20:01, but a pair of goals by Marino at 28:22 and 27:28 gave the Seahawks a 2-1 lead. UNE went on to score five of the next six goals – including two from McCarter – to grab a 6-3 lead with 10:17 remaining in the first half. Curtin's second goal of the afternoon at 9:37 cut the deficit to two (6-4) before the Nor'Easters closed the half with four goals, the last by junior Kim Bilodeau (Durham, Maine) with 28 ticks left, and led 10-4 at the break.
Barker netted two more goals in the opening 8:32 of the second half to give UNE a commanding 13-4 lead. Curtin completed her hat trick with a goal at 20:53, but goals by sophomore Danielle Cate (Boscawen, N.H.) and junior Mallory Long (Lewiston, Maine) gave UNE a 15-5 lead with 10:09 remaining. The Nor'easters scored four more goals – highlighted by markers from McCarter and Barker – while Marino, sophomore Nicole Viola (Scarborough, Maine) and freshman Sarah Livingston (Westford, Mass.) registered goals for the Seahawks.
Baker finished the afternoon with 14 saves for the Seahawks while sophomore Tara Geraghty (Barrington, R.I.) played well in her return to her home state, making seven saves to earn her second win of the season. The Nor'easters outshot the Seahawks 45-19 and forced 10 turnovers, compared to just three for Salve Regina.
UNE is back at it tomorrow (April 6) with a road contest at St. Joseph's College. Start time is slated for 4:00 p.m.
