BOSTON, Mass. - The Simmons College women's lacrosse team was defeated by host Emerson College in the season opener for both teams this evening at Rotch Playground in Boston, Mass. The Sharks fall to 0-1 on the season, while the Lions improve to 1-0.
Emerson junior attacker Guerin Morissette (Georgetown, Maine) opened the scoring with the first of her five goals less than two minutes into the match. Simmons matched the tally when junior midfielder Greer Gilbert (Falmouth, Mass.) scored with 22:15 left in the opening half on a free position shot.
The Lions netted the next five goals, including two each from junior middie Tayllar Righini (Salem, N.H.) and senior defender Marlee Galper (Santa Monica, Calif.), to take a 6-1 cushion at the 9:36 mark of the first half. First year Kasey Fries (Bridgewater, Mass.) broke the string for the Sharks with her first collegiate score coming just 23 seconds later. Simmons struck again to cut the deficit in half at 6-3 with 5:17 to go in the period when junior midfielder Alexia Malone Oliver (Bristol, R.I.) scored on a free position chance. Emerson closed out the half with four unanswered goals, including a pair from sophomore midfielder Meredith Weber (West Caldwell, N.J.) to take a 10-3 advantage at the intermission.
The Lions carried their offensive momentum into the second stanza with four straight goals, including two more each from Morissette and Weber to put the game out of reach at 14-3 with 25:40 remaining in the contest. Senior attacker Stephanie Oliveri (Waltham, Mass.) netted the Sharks' first goal of the second half at the 23:28 mark, before Emerson found the back of the net twice to increase its lead to 16-4. Oliveri struck again for Simmons with 16:59 to play in the game, but the Lions scored the final five goals of the match, including two from Weber to give her a game-high of seven.
Oliveri added a ground ball to her two goals for the Sharks, while Gilbert recorded four draw controls and a pair of ground balls. Malone Oliver caused a turnover and picked up a pair of ground balls to go with her score.
Weber racked up seven draw controls, two ground balls and a caused turnover to lead Emerson and Righini tallied five points on two goals and three assists in addition to three draw controls and three ground balls.
Senior goalie Crystal Derosier (Kingston, Mass.) stopped seven shots for Simmons, while junior goalie Victoria Kanaris (Haworth, N.J.) turned away six of 11 shots in 43:01 of action to earn the victory for the Lions. First year Kristine Modica (East Moriches, N.Y.) stopped all four shots she saw in the final 16:59 of play.
The Sharks will be in action again on Tuesday, March 10 when they travel to Cambridge, Mass. to take on Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 7:00 p.m., while Emerson heads to Keene, N.H. on March 9 for a 4:00 p.m. match with Keene State College.