NEWTON, Mass. – Freshman attack Elyse Caiazzo (Scarborough, Maine/Cheverus) scored a career-high eight goals to help propel Saint Joseph's College (7-1, 4-0 GNAC) past Mount Ida College (2-7, 2-4 GNAC), 18-7, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) women's lacrosse contest on Wednesday afternoon.
Sophomore Nicole Pavao (Peabody, Mass.) lifted Mount Ida to a very early lead, scoring just 15 seconds into play on the first shot of the conference contest, but Saint Joseph's assumed control of the game with six unanswered goals over the following 15 minutes. The Mustangs cut their deficit down to three (9-6) when Pavao punched home her second marker of the day with 4:21 before the break, but the Monks responded with three consecutive tallies in the closing minutes – including a pair of Caiazzo strikes just seven seconds apart – and held a 12-6 cushion going into intermission.
Saint Joseph's has now won a program-record seven-consecutive games, as the Monks have not lost since a season-opening defeat at the hands of University of New England exactly a month ago.
The conference counterparts traded goals in the opening 10 minutes of the second stanza, as senior Lizzie Calnan (Westport, Mass.) and Pavao swapped scores to make it a 13-7 game with 20:56 remaining. It would be all Monks for the remainder, however, as the visitors rattled off five straight markers to close out the game and account for the 18-7 final.
For the Monks, Calnan tallied three goals and an assist with four ground balls, two draw controls and a pair of caused turnovers, junior Mary Leasure (South Portland, Maine/McAuley) added two goals and a pair of helpers, junior Kat Gadbois (Scarborough, Maine) scored twice with an assist and a game-high seven ground balls, and sophomore Kelsey Dumond (Lewiston, Maine) contributed a pair of markers in the victory. Sophomore Jackie Wilson (Tiverton, R.I.) netted a goal with two assists and five draw controls and junior Meghan Williams (Greenland, N.H./St. Thomas Aquinas) picked up a team-high six ground balls with two draw controls and a pair of caused turnovers.
For the Mustangs, Pavao registered a hat trick, senior Amanda Bowen (Randolph, Vt.) produced a goal and an assist, and Rebecca Beaulieu (Weare, N.H.) added a goal and an assist with nine draw controls, four ground balls and three caused turnovers in a losing effort.
In goal, sophomore Meghan Fullarton (Windham, Maine) made five saves to improve to 2-0 on the season while Mount Ida freshman Sydney Fredette (Hudson, N.H.) posted 10 stops between the pipes.
Saint Joseph's held advantages in shots (37-19), ground balls (25-20), turnovers (11-14) and clears (12-15/6-14) while Mount Ida owned a 14-11 edge in draw controls in the GNAC tilt.
With the victory, Saint Joseph's improves to 5-1 in the history of the series with Mount Ida College and has now defeated the Mustangs in four-consecutive meetings dating back to the 2012 season. Today's winning margin is the largest in the six-game matchup as the Monks had defeated the Mustangs by two goals in each of the last three meetings going into this afternoon's action.
Both teams return to the turf hosting conference opponents on Saturday, when Saint Joseph's plays Albertus Magnus College at 12:30 PM and Mount Ida takes on Johnson & Wales University at 1:00 PM.
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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 474-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
