PORTLAND, Maine – Saint Joseph's College (6-1, 1-0 GNAC) kicked off Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play with a 17-8 victory over Johnson & Wales University (3-4, 0-1 GNAC) in women's lacrosse action at Deering Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
SJC HIGHLIGHTS
- Senior Kat Gadbois (Scarborough, Maine) paced the Monks' offense with six goals and an assist while recording six ground balls, four draw controls, and four caused turnovers
- Junior Kelsey Dumond (Lewiston, Maine) netted four goals with three ground balls
- Junior Jackie Wilson (Tiverton, R.I.) tallied two goals, two assists, four ground balls, four draw controls, and three caused turnovers
- Sophomore Elyse Caiazzo (Scarborough, Maine/Cheverus) added two goals and an assist with five ground balls, three draw controls, and three caused turnovers
- Senior Elizabeth Elcock (Westwood, Mass.) scored twice with a pair of ground balls
- Senior Mary Leasure (South Portland, Maine/McAuley) chipped in with a goal and an assist
- Senior defender Emma Lafrance (Westport, Mass.) picked up four ground balls with two caused turnovers
- Senior goalie Michelle Cunha (Enfield, Conn.) made four stops to pick up her sixth win of the season
JWU HIGHLIGHTS
- Sophomore Gabrielle Vasile (Milford, Mass.) netted three goals with two ground balls
- Freshman Kathy Ensor (St. Louis, Mo.) potted a pair with two ground balls and two caused turnovers
- Junior Lydia Knapp (Glens Falls, N.Y.) scored a goal with five draw controls
- Senior defender Mary Kate Bowe (Mount Laurel, N.J.) picked up three ground balls and caused a pair of turnovers
- Senior goalie Cristal Benton (Albany, N.Y.) made five saves in the loss while freshman Alexis Harle (Calgary, Alberta) recorded one save in 3:49 minutes of relief duty
HOW IT HAPPENED
Gadbois set the pace early by scoring a pair of unassisted goals in the first four minutes and the Monks netted seven of the first eight goals overall en route to securing a 7-2 advantage heading into intermission.
St. Joe's continued to dominate in the second stanza and held a 15-6 lead after Elcock scored off a Wilson feed with 6:03 remaining. The Wildcats scored twice over the subsequent two minutes to draw within seven, but Dumond and Leasure closed out the scoring ledger with goals at the 2:13 and 1:04 marks, respectively.
TEAM STATS
Saint Joseph's held the lead in shots (26-16), draw controls (14-10), turnovers (18-21), and ground balls (30-15) while successfully clearing on eight of 15 attempts in the victory. Johnson & Wales was 8-9 on clear attempts in the losing effort.
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING
With the win, Saint Joseph's improves to 4-0 in the history of the series with Johnson & Wales, a team the Monks defeated by an 11-8 score last spring. Today's winning margin is the largest in the four-game matchup and nearly doubles the previous high of five goals, which occurred in the first meeting between the Monks and Wildcats on April 22nd, 2014 (13-8).
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's returns to action Wednesday with a game at #18 Bowdoin College starting at 7:00 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.
