PORTLAND, Maine -- Junior Elizabeth Elcock (Westwood, Mass.) and rookie Elyse Caiazzo (Scarborough, Maine/Cheverus) combined for nine goals as the Saint Joseph's College Monks held off the University of Southern Maine Huskies, 15-12, in non-conference women's lacrosse action Wednesday at Deering Memorial Stadium.
The win was the third straight for the Monks (3-1) following their season-opening loss at the University of New England, and their first against the Huskies in eight tries. The winless Huskies (0-3) dropped their third straight game.
Elcock led all scorers with five goals and dished off one assist for a six-point game. Caiazzo added four goals. Junior Kat Gadbois (Scarborough, Maine) and sophomore Jackie Wilson (Tiverton, R.I.) each had two goals and an assist. Junior Mary Leasure (South Portland, Maine/McAuley) chipped in with three assists. Junior goalie Michelle Cunha (Enfield, Conn.) stopped five shots to earn the win.
For the Huskies, sophomore Sam Campobasso (Buxton, Maine/Bonny Eagle) led the offense with three goals. Juniors Sarah Pelligrinelli (Southington, Conn.) and Anh Nguyen (South Portland, Maine), and senior Julia Pearl (Essex Jct., Vt.), had two goals apiece. Junior Caley Presby (Portland, Maine/Deering) made seven saves.
Southern Maine scored four straight goals over a six-minute span in the middle third of the opening half to take a 5-3 lead. Pearl and Campobasso each scored twice in the surge.
The Monks, sparked by Elcock and Caiazzo, outscored the Huskies 6-1 over the final nine minutes to take an 8-6 advantage into the halftime intermission. Elcock opened a run of four straight Monks goals with 8:48 remaining. Caiazzo and Wilson followed with goals 29 seconds apart to give the lead to the Monks for good. Caiazzo found the net again to push the lead to 7-5 with 4:19 to go.
Sophomore Lauren Lessard (Lewiston, Maine) snapped the run of St. Joseph's goals to pull USM within one, but that would be the closest USM would get. Senior Lizzie Calnan (Westport, Mass.) scored in the final minute converting a pass from Leasure.
Elcock scored twice in the opening three minutes of the second half to expand the Monks' lead to 10-6. Junior Shauna Robert (Lyman, Maine/Massabesic) and Nguyen tallied goals for the Huskies to pull USM within two (10-8) with 23:18 to play.
The teams traded goals over the final 20 minutes with Huskies getting back within two goals (11-9) on a Pelligrinelli marker at 12:27, but Wilson and Gadbois swung the momentum back to the Monks with goals inside the final third of the half.
Prior to this evening, the Monks had never scored more than eight goals in a game versus Southern Maine, a team that defeated St. Joe's by a 13-6 margin last spring. In the seven previous meetings between the in-state rivals, the Huskies outscored by Monks by a 115-42 margin.
Southern Maine travels to Cambridge, Mass., on Saturday (1:00 p.m.) to play at M.I.T. Saint Joseph's will host University of Saint Joseph in the Monks' 2015 conference-opener at Memorial Field on Saturday (3:30 p.m.).
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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 430-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.
