STANDISH, ME – Saint Joseph's (9-1-1, 6-0 GNAC) saw its hopes of an undefeated season dashed on Tuesday, as the University of Southern Maine (5-6) defeated the Monks, 14-7, at Westerlea Way Field. Lauren Hagerman '10 (Scarborough, ME) played a hand in all seven of the SJC goals, with two scores and five assists in the losing effort.
The in-state rivals dueled to a 5-5 tie in the opening 30 minutes and Saint Joseph's captured a two-goal lead with the first two tallies of the second half, but the Huskies rattled off nine unanswered goals over the final 20 minutes to take the 14-7 result.
Goals by USM midfielders Jessica Knight '10 (Alfred, ME) and Jessica Martineau '11 (Yarmouth, ME) put the visitors on top after four minutes of play, but the Royal Blue answered with three over 80 seconds, two from Alyssa Marchant '11 (Wakefield, MA) and the other from Erika Waterhouse '13 (South Portland, ME), to gain a 3-2 advantage. Hagerman assisted on all three SJC goals.
Southern Maine tallied the game's next three goals, as two scores from Knight sandwiched a Haley Jordan '13 (Falmouth, ME) marker to provide the Huskies with a 5-3 cushion. Marchant netted her third goal of the game with 1:19 left in the first half and Hagerman scored just eight seconds later to even the score at five-apiece heading into the break.
Hagerman opened the second-half scoring with a free-position goal at the 27:20 mark to lift her team to a one-goal lead, 6-5. Waterhouse scored off a Hagerman pass with 20:39 left to make it a two-goal game.
Knight, who scored four goals in the second half and a game-high seven in the USM victory, jumpstarted the Huskies' run with two tallies in a matter of 20 seconds to tie the game, 7-7, with 18:59 to play. Lauren Santo '13 (Salem, NH) netted the eventual game-winner on a free-position shot at the 16:42 mark and USM went on to score three goals over the next minute of play and added three more over the final eight minutes to skate to a 14-7 lead.
For St. Joe's, Marchant scored three goals and Waterhouse notched a pair of markers in the loss. Marchant, Casey Monaghan '13 (Portland, ME/Portland) and Emily Wight '13 (Westbrook, ME) all collected five groundballs and Taylor Allison '12 (Pawtucket, RI) made six saves in goal for the Monks.
For the Huskies, Mary Vaughn '11 (Brunswick, ME) netted three goals and Santo registered two tallies in the victory. Brittney Bennett '10 (Kennebunk, ME) corralled four groundballs and goalkeeper Samantha Kiesel '13 (Lakeville, MA) made 14 saves for the victors.
Southern Maine held an advantage in draw controls (15-8), clears (18-20,15-23) and saves (14-6), while the Monks held an edge in groundballs (27-21) and turnovers (19-21). Both teams recorded 26 shots.
Saint Joseph's will play at Rivier College in a GNAC matchup on Friday at 5:00 PM, while Southern Maine will host Curry College on Thursday at 4:00 PM.
