STANDISH, ME - The Saint Joseph's women's lacrosse team went 8-6 overall and 5-4 in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play under the watch of third-year Head Coach Anna Gordon last spring.

After a one-year hiatus, the Monks returned to GNAC postseason play for the fourth time in five seasons as an NCAA varsity sport. Seeded fifth, Saint Joseph's traveled to Boston to face #4 Simmons College in a conference quarterfinal on April 24th and suffered a season-ending 15-5 loss at the hands of the Sharks.

Several months after the season ended, Coach Gordon stepped down from her post to pursue other professional opportunities. She left the program with a 23-17 overall record, including a 14-11 mark versus conference foes, over three seasons.

Featuring a roster with four seniors, three juniors, nine sophomores and four freshmen, Saint Joseph's entered the season with the modest goals of posting a winning campaign and returning to the conference playoffs. Several concerns would need to be sorted out in order for these objectives to be reached - including the question of how the squad would move forward without the services of departed senior Alyssa Marchant '11, the 2011 GNAC Offensive Player of the Year and SJC all-time leading scorer who netted over a third of the Monks' goals in her final season.

As it turned out, the SJC offense was one of the Monks' strengths, as three returning players - sophomores Cassie Diplock (Augusta, Maine) and Anneka Adame (San Diego, Calif.) and senior Amelia Santos (Beverly, Mass.) - combined to net 119 goals and all three claimed Second Team All-GNAC accolades for their efforts following the completion of the 2012 campaign.

The season began with a trip to Husson University on March 15th and the St. Joe's offense would be the story, as Diplock and Adame tallied five goals apiece and Santos added three markers and a trio of assists in an 18-10 victory.

Two days later, the Monks opened conference play with a 21-9 triumph over Anna Maria College in Paxton, Massachusetts. Santos scored a career-high nine points with four goals and five assists and Adame potted five markers in the convincing win.

Following losses to Lasell College (18-5) and Southern Maine (18-7), Saint Joseph's returned to the win column with an 8-6 victory over GNAC-rival Emerson College on March 28th. Elizabeth Giacchino (Melrose, Mass.), making her first collegiate start in net, made 14 saves and Diplock scored five goals, including the winner, in the Monks' first win in program history against Emerson.

After dropping a 14-11 see-saw battle with Simmons two days later, Saint Joseph's managed to tip Emmanuel College by a 12-11 margin in double-overtime on April 3rd to improve to 4-3 overall and 3-2 in GNAC play. Diplock fueled the Monks' thrilling victory by scoring a career-high eight goals and Giacchino and Haley Nason (Saco, Maine) combined to make 11 saves on the evening.

St. Joe's proceeded to post road victories over Regis College (18-16) and St. Joseph (CT) (16-4) over the following three days as Diplock and Santos combined to tally 16 goals in the pair of wins. Despite eight goals from Diplock, the Monks' three-game win streak came to a close on April 10th when Rivier College tipped the Royal Blue, 20-19, in overtime.

Saint Joseph's improved to 7-4 overall with a non-conference win over Thomas College two days later. Diplock found the back of the cage five times and Giacchino registered 11 stops on the afternoon. After a week off, the Monks returned to action with a home contest versus GNAC-rival Mount Ida College on April 19th. The conference contest proved to be one of the most competitive of the season as the teams stood at a stalemate on four occasions, but the Royal Blue managed to secure an important victory over the Mustangs with the help of five Diplock tallies and 12 total saves from Giacchino and Nason.

The Monks hosted Norwich University in the regular-season finale on April 19th and fell victim to a slow start in a 13-8 loss at the hands of the eventual GNAC champions. The visiting Cadets jumped out to a 10-3 lead in the first half and St. Joe's managed to cut the deficit to four with three scores in the final 1:12 of the opening stanza, but the hosts would get no closer to the lead as Norwich put the game away with timely scoring and stout defense in the latter half.

Five days later, Saint Joseph's was sluggish out of the gates again as Simmons netted five quick goals en route to securing an 11-3 halftime cushion in the GNAC quarterfinal contest. The Monks never really got going in the playoff opener and saw the 2012 campaign come to a close as a result.

The loss brought an end to collegiate lacrosse for the Monks' four seniors: Santos, Megan Cutter (Westbrook, Maine), Allyson Woods (Portland, Maine/McAuley) and Abigale Pelletier (Lewiston, Maine). The second four-year class in program history helped Saint Joseph's notch a 29-25 (.537) record during their time on the field and helped pioneer a fledgling women's lacrosse program at Saint Joseph's College.

NOTEWORTHY INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES:

• Diplock led the team with 58 goals and netted eight assists for a team-high 66 points with 38 ground balls, 17 draw controls and nine caused turnovers in a breakout sophomore season. Her 2012 goal tally ranks as the second-most ever scored by an SJC player in a single season.
• Santos scored 32 goals and recorded a team-high 27 assists for 59 total points as a senior and ranked second in the conference in helpers last spring. She closed out her career ranked second in program history in assists (65) and third all-time in goals (94), points (159), shots (226) and shots on goal (174).
• Adame scored 29 goals and recorded three assists for 32 total points with 54 ground balls and team-highs in draw controls (77) and caused turnovers (14) as a sophomore. She heads into her junior campaign tied with Lauren Hagerman '10 for the program's all-time lead in career draw controls (157).
• Cutter recorded career-highs in goals (14), assists (6), points (20), shots (39), shots on goal (31), ground balls (55, a team-high) and caused turnovers (12) and capped her career as the Monks' all-time leader in games played (55). The two-year team captain also ranks third in program history in ground balls (123) and fourth in caused turnovers (21).
• Freshman Kirstin McCombs (Lewiston, Maine) scored 13 goals with two assists for 15 total points with 52 ground balls eight draw controls and nine caused turnovers during her rookie season.