PORTLAND, ME – Alyssa Marchant ’11 (Wakefield, MA) scored a program-record 10 goals to help Saint Joseph’s (4-0-1) remain undefeated and improve to 2-0 in conference play as the Monks defeated Mount Ida College (4-2, 1-1 GNAC) in a GNAC Women’s Lacrosse contest at Deering Memorial Stadium on Friday evening.

SJC midfielder Lauren Hagerman ’10 (Scarborough, ME) added five goals and two assists for seven total points and keeper Taylor Allison ’12 (Pawtucket, RI) made eight saves between the pipes for the Monks.

Danielle Chuba ’11 (Wrightstown, NJ) and Jen Thompson ’11 (Easton, MD) paced the Mustangs with six goals apiece and Devyn Frank ’13 (Mystic, CT) recorded 15 saves in net for Mount Ida.

St. Joe’s trailed, 6-4, with 11:54 remaining in the first half, but the Royal Blue outscored the Mustangs by a 6-1 margin, with four goals from Marchant, for the remainder of the opening stanza to gain a 10-7 lead heading into the intermission. The Monks maintained at least a two-goal cushion for the duration of the second half en route to the 18-13 triumph.

The GNAC rivals traded punches in the opening 15 minutes of play, with Hagerman kicking off the scoring with a goal 37 seconds into play. Thompson knotted the game for the Mustangs at one apiece 1:06 later.

Saint Joseph’s regained the edge when Marchant tallied her first marker of the game at the 25:06 mark, but Mount Ida answered with scores from Thompson and Chuba to take the 3-2 lead.

Marchant beat Frank again with 22:37 left in the first half to tie the game at three apiece, but goals from Stephanie Hill ’13 (Madison, CT) and Thompson, both assisted by Chuba, put the visitors on top, 5-3, with 18:39 left in the first half.

Hagerman scored for the Monks less than three minutes later and Chuba answered the tally at the 11:54 mark with her second goal of the game to help the Mustangs maintain the two-goal edge. Hagerman and Marchant proceeded to knot the game at six-all with goals off Amelia Santos ’12 (Beverly, MA) passes and Santos put one in herself on a free-position attempt with 6:02 remaining in the opening stanza to lift the Monks to their first lead since the opening minutes.

Chuba managed to get a shot past Allison on a free-position bid just under three minutes later to tie the game, 7-7, but Marchant closed out the half with three consecutive goals in the final 2:33 of play to provide the hosts with a 10-7 advantage heading into the break.

The Mustangs attempted to get back into the mix with a goal from Chuba 1:56 into the latter stanza, but Marchant answered with a pair of goals just five seconds apart, which ranks as the second-fastest consecutive goals scored by a player, and team, in NCAA DIII Women’s Lacrosse history. The rapid-fire scoring effort put the Royal Blue up 12-8 with 25:07 to play and, with the help of a 5-1 run over the next 13 minutes, St. Joe’s maintained the momentum for the rest of play.

Mount Ida was able to muster one final effort in the last 10 minutes, however, as the Mustangs scored  three unanswered tallies, two from Chuba and another from Thompson, in a four-minute stretch to make it a 17-13 game. The Monks’ defensive front went on to hold the visitors without a score for the final 4:17 of play and Hagerman netted her fifth goal of the contest with 1:54 left to cap the game scoring.

Marchant added a game-and-career-high nine groundballs with five draw controls and Hagerman collected eight groundballs with five draw controls in the win.

Santos chipped in with a goal and two assists and Megan Cutter ’12 (Westbrook, ME) and Erika Waterhouse ’13 (South Portland, ME) both contributed a goal in the winning effort. Cutter added six groundballs to her stat line, while Jaimee Brett ’10 (Otisfield, ME) and Danielle Cusack ’13 (Portland, ME/Deering) both corralled five groundballs for Saint Joseph’s.

St. Joe’s held an advantage in shots (41-27), groundballs (45-22), draw controls (20-13) and caused turnovers (6-4) in the victory.

Saint Joseph’s will play at Becker College on Saturday in a non-conference contest set to begin at 2:00 PM, while Mount Ida will play at St. Joseph (CT) on Monday in a GNAC game scheduled for a 4:00 PM start.