CLERMONT, Fla. – Junior attacker Kasey Fries (Bridgewater, Mass.) tallied five goals and became the seventh player in school history to reach the 100-point mark for her career in leading the Simmons College women's lacrosse team to a 12-3 victory over Rhode Island College this morning at the National Training Center in Clermont, Fla. The Sharks improve to 1-3 on the season, while the Anchorwomen fall to 0-3.
Simmons controlled play for most of the match, owning a 38-8 shot advantage, while its defense prevented Rhode Island College from clearing the ball in 24 of 32 attempts.
Fries also added a ground ball to her day for the Sharks. Sophomore midfielder Elena Bragg (Belmont, Mass.) netted three goals in addition to an assist, two caused turnovers, a ground ball and a pair of draw controls, while sophomore midfielder Ana Giarrusso (Hingham, Mass.) contributed with two points on a goal and an assist to go with two ground balls, two draw controls and a caused turnover. Sophomore Lauren Williams (Bowdoinham, Maine) and first year Krystianna Pietrzak (Bennington, Vt.) fueled the defensive effort for Simmons. Williams came up with a game-high six ground balls and added a caused turnover and Pietrzak registered a match-high three caused turnovers and picked up five ground balls. Sophomore goalie Kenzie Rogers (Bourne, Mass.) stopped the only shot she faced in the first half to record the win, while junior Chyenne Yeager (Indiana, Pa.) turned away three of six shots in the second half.
Senior midfielder Betsy Heidel (Warwick, R.I.) led Rhode Island College with a pair of goals in addition to a game-high six draw controls, while senior midfielder Jessica Trautman (Narragansett, R.I.) tallied a goal. First year defender Sondra Bouchard (Smithfield, R.I.) also picked up a match-best six ground balls and three caused turnovers to lead the RIC defense and junior defender Alasondra Apici (Providence, R.I.) came up with four ground balls and caused a pair of turnovers. Sophomore goalie Julia Eaton (Cumberland, R.I.) made 20 saves for the Anchorwomen.
The Sharks dominated the first half, outscoring Rhode Island College, 8-0. Simmons scored four times in the first nine minutes of play, including two from Fries and one goal each from Bragg and Giarrusso. Fries marker with 23:21 left in the opening half gave her 100 points for her career. She added another goal at the 6:12 mark to give her three for the first stanza. The Sharks were limited to three goals in the final 14-plus minutes of the first period, including a marker from sophomore attacker Missie Maiewski (Northampton, Mass.) with just 1.8 seconds left before the intermission.
The Anchorwomen's defense showed its stingy side in the second half, limiting Simmons to four goals, while Eaton stopped 14 of 18 shots on goal. Trautman put Rhode Island College on the board with a score just 58 seconds into the second half, but Bragg answered for the Sharks, 65 seconds later, to make it 9-1. Heidel tallied her first goal for the Anchorwomen at the 26:15 mark, before Simmons countered with a pair of goals, one each from Fries and Bragg to increase the Sharks' advantage to 11-2. Heidel's second tally of the morning came just 20 ticks later to cut the deficit to 11-3 for Rhode Island College, but it was the last goal of the match for the Anchorwomen. Neither team scored for the next 22-plus minutes until Fries found the back of the net with 18 seconds left in the contest for her fifth goal of the day.
Simmons returns to action on Tuesday, March 14 when it heads to Weston, Mass. to take on Regis College for a 6:00 p.m. match, while Rhode Island College hosts Elms College on the same day at 6:30 p.m.