BOSTON, Mass. – The Saint Joseph's College women's lacrosse team scored four goals over the final seven minutes of the first half to pull break open a tight game and propel them to a 12-8 win over Emmanuel College Thursday evening in Great Northeast Athletic Conference action at Roberto Clemente Field. The Monks improve to 10-3 overall and 6-1 in GNAC play while the loss dips the Saints to 5-9 and 4-4.
Both squads came out with tough defense, holding each other scoreless for almost eight minutes until Saint Joseph's got on the board on an unassisted marker by junior attack Elyse Caiazzo (Scarborough, Maine) to give the visitors a 1-0 lead with 22:04 remaining in the half.
Emmanuel answered to even the score at 1-1 on a goal by junior middie Stephanie Warn (Hanson, Mass.) who finished off a pass from senior Abaigeal Merrigan (Rye, N.H.) for the equalizer.
The chess match continued as Caiazzo gave the Monks a 2-1 lead midway through the action but the Saints answered immediately on a goal by senior Amanda Cook (Saco, Maine) to match the score at 2-2.
With 6:54 to play in the first half, SJM sophomore Samantha Medlin (Kingston, Mass.) gave the Monks the lead for good by converting a free position shot to break the tie and make it a 3-2 game. Sophomore middie Kayla Kelly (York, Maine) made it 4-2 less than a minute later to force the hosts to burn a timeout.
Out of the break, Emmanuel got one back on a score by freshman Kylie Rice (Bethlehem, Conn.) to cut the lead to 4-3 with 4:59 remaining in the stanza but the Monks closed the half strong as senior Jackie Wilson (Tiverton, R.I.) and sophomore Kara Kelly (York, Maine) found the back of the net before the intermission to lift Saint Joseph's to a 6-3 halftime score.
The Monks stayed hot early in the second half as Caiazzo netted her 50th goal of the season just 2:22 into the action to make it 7-3. EC senior Savannah Lundwall (Fiskdale, Mass.) and Warn scored back-to-back tallies to get the hosts back in it with a 7-5 score with 21:35 to play but Medlin got one back with her second goal of the night to push the score to 8-5.
Lundwall kept Emmanuel in the fight with her second goal of the half to pull EC back to within two at 8-6 with 14:14 left but over the next 10 minutes the Monks scored four unanswered goals to pull away with a 12-6 lead on a pair of goals by Kara Kelly and additional scores from Caiazzo and freshman Madison Beaulieu (West Gardiner, Maine).
Emmanuel added two late tallies on goals from Rice and Cook to account for the 12-8 final.
Saint Joseph's freshman goalie Kaylin Mansir (West Gardiner, Maine) picked up the win in goal for the Monks for her 10th victory of the campaign making four saves. Emmanuel sophomore goalie Bethany Bonilla-Colon (Milton, Mass.) made 11 saves in defeat.
The Saints close out the regular season on Saturday, April 29 when they hit the road to face Simmons College at 11:00 AM while the Monks host Albertus Magnus the same day 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.
