BOSTON, Mass. – The Simmons College women's lacrosse team held visiting Norwich University to a pair of second half goals and erased a five-goal deficit to come away with an 11-10 victory in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference match this evening on Winsor Field in Boston, Mass. The Sharks improve to 7-8 overall and 4-4 in league play, while the Cadets fall to 6-8 and 3-5.
Simmons outscored Norwich, 7-2, in the second half and held the Cadets scoreless for 24:40, while scoring seven unanswered goals.
Senior midfielder Alexia Malone Oliver (Bristol, R.I.) led the Sharks with three goals and four ground balls to go with three caused turnovers, while first year attacker Missie Maiewski (Northampton, Mass.) also tallied three goals to go with three ground balls and a draw control. First year midfielder Elena Bragg (Belmont, Mass.) chipped in with three points, including a pair of assists in addition to five draw controls. First year defender Lauren Williams (Bowdoinham, Maine) led the defensive effort with four caused turnovers and four ground balls. First year goalie Kenzie Rogers (Bourne, Mass.) made 10 saves to earn the victory for Simmons.
Junior midfielder Chapel Guarnieri (Pepperell, Mass.) led all scorers with six goals for Norwich and added five ground balls, three draw controls and a game-high five caused turnovers. First year middie Kathryn Albretsen (Cotuit, Mass.) scored three times in addition to four ground balls and four caused turnovers. First year netminder Janice Bolton (Stow, Mass.) stopped nine shots on the night for the visitors.
Guarnieri scored her 43rd goal of the season just 40 seconds into the second half to give the Cadets a 9-4 lead. The Sharks defense then held Norwich scoreless for nearly 25 minutes. Malone Oliver scored at the 25:13 mark to spark a 7-0 run, including four goals in a span of 4:13. She scored again just 32 seconds later on a feed from sophomore midfielder Gabrielle Klane (Franklin, Mass.) to pull the home team to within 9-6.
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Senior midfielder Ashley Sheehan (North Attleboro, Mass.) and sophomore middie Kasey Fries (Bridgewater, Mass.) each found the back of the net over the next 3:41 to cut the margin to 9-8. Malone Oliver tied the score at 9-9 with her 20th goal of the year with 14:57 remaining in the second stanza. Maiewski gave Simmons its first lead of the night just 1:23 later with her 21st score of the season at 13:34.
Norwich looked to knot the contest on its next possession, but Malone Oliver intercepted a pass in the Sharks defensive zone. She raced down the right sideline and found first year defender Mallory Cottam (Hope, R.I.) in the Simmons offensive zone for Cottam's third goal of the season at 11:20 for an 11-9 lead. It would be the Sharks' final marker of the evening.
Albretsen brought the Cadets to within a goal when she scored on a free position shot with a player advantage with 4:40 showing on the clock to make it 11-10 with her 45th tally of the season. Norwich threatened to tie the score in the closing minutes, but Rogers made a pair of saves to preserve the victory for Simmons.
Guarnieri and Albretsen each scored within a 42-second span to give the Cadets a 2-0 lead to open the match, before Maiewski put the Sharks on the board at the 20:03 mark of the first half. Norwich ripped off four straight goals, including a pair of free position scores from Guarnieri to take a 6-1 lead with 15:48 to go in the period. Sophomore attacker Jolene Potter (Readfield, Maine) and Maiewski each found the back of the net to keep Simmons in the match at 6-3 with 11:38 left in the half. Guarnieri scored two of the next three goals, including the final score of the period with 54 seconds left to give the Cadets an 8-4 margin heading into halftime.
The Sharks return to action for their season finale on Saturday, April 30 when they head to Hartford, Conn. to take on GNAC foe University of Saint Joseph at 1:00 p.m. match, while Norwich travels to Standish, Maine to play Saint Joseph's College on the same day at 1:00 p.m.