STANDISH, ME – Saint Joseph's (8-4, 5-3 GNAC) edged Mount Ida College (4-9, 4-4 GNAC), 9-7, in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) women's lacrosse action at Westerlea Way Field on Wednesday afternoon. Sophomore attacker Cassie Diplock (Augusta, Maine) registered four goals and an assist in the important conference victory.

The tilt was tightly-contested from buzzer to buzzer, as neither club would attain a lead of more than two goals in a game that was tied on four occasions. St. Joe's trailed by two goals five minutes into the contest and 4-2 with 9:45 remaining in the first half, but went on to score three unanswered markers in rapid succession and held at least a share of the lead for the remainder of play.

The visiting Mustangs came out of the chute quickly, netting two goals in the opening 5:17 of play as Kayla Bravo (East Providence, R.I.) and Kaitlin Affhauser (Cheshire, Mass.) found the back of the cage to provide their team with a 2-0 lead.

The Monks answered by scoring the game's next two goals, with Amelia Santos (Beverly, Mass.) and Diplock tallying a goal apiece to knot the game at 2-2 with 13:09 left in the opening half. Affhauser and Molly Sheppard (Brookhaven, N.Y.) retaliated with markers to make it a 4-2 contest in favor of the Mustangs, but Anneka Adame (San Diego, Calif.), Diplock and Erika Waterhouse (South Portland, Maine) each scored over a three-minute span to lift the Royal Blue to a 5-4 advantage with 5:44 before the break.

Sheppard managed to tie the game with her second goal of the contest less than two minutes later as the conference tilt headed into intermission with the teams deadlocked at five-apiece.

The second-half scoring quickly commenced as Adame produced her second score of the afternoon just 51 seconds into play to put her team on top by one. The minimal lead would last less than a minute however, as Amanda Bowen (Randolph, Vt.) scored off an Affhauser feed just 45 seconds later to make it a 6-6 game.

St. Joe's would respond at the 25:38 mark when Waterhouse found the back of the cage off a Diplock pass and Diplock added her third goal of the game with 19:57 remaining to extend the SJC cushion to 8-6. Alexandria Milot (Tiverton, R.I.) cut the Mustangs' deficit in half when she beat SJC keeper Haley Nason (Saco, Maine) with a shot at the 8:09 mark, but Diplock provided the Monks with a little breathing room, tallying her fourth marker of the contest with 2:13 left to ice the victory for the hosts.

In goal, Elizabeth Giacchino (Melrose, Mass.) made seven saves and allowed five goals in 30 minutes of play while Nason was awarded the victory after posting five stops with two goals allowed in the second half. Mount Ida netminder Kayla Musty (Topsham, Vt.) made nine saves in a losing effort.

For the Monks, Adame scored twice and added five draw controls and five ground balls, Santos recorded a goal and four assists, and Waterhouse tallied a pair of scores. Affhauser registered two goals and two assists and Sheppard chipped in with two goals and six draw controls on the afternoon.

With the victory Saint Joseph's improves to 2-1 in the history of the series with Mount Ida College.

St. Joe's will host Norwich University on Thursday in a conference game slated to start at 4:00 PM.