BOSTON, Mass. - Junior Kasey Fries (Bridgewater, Mass.) netted five goals for the second time in the last three matches to lead the Simmons College women's lacrosse team in a 15-10 loss to visiting Curry College this evening at Daly Field in Brighton, Mass. The Sharks fall to 2-4 on the season, while the Colonels improve to 3-3.
Despite being outscored, 11-3, in the opening half, the Simmons defense allowed just four goals in the second stanza, while the offense scored seven times.
Fries added two ground balls and a draw control for the Sharks, while sophomore midfielder Ana Giarrusso (Hingham, Mass.) recorded three points, including a pair of goals and added four ground balls and four caused turnovers. Sophomore midfielder Elena Bragg (Belmont, Mass.) finished with a goal, an assist, a game-high six ground balls, six draw controls and a pair of caused turnovers. Starting junior goalie Chyenne Yeager (Indiana, Pa.) stopped four of 15 shots she faced in the first half, before yielding to sophomore Kenzie Rogers (Bourne, Mass.), who turned away five of nine shots on net in the second half.
Senior midfielder Malorie Knowlton (Norfolk, Mass.) (five) and first year midfielder Abby Dubel (Wolfeboro, N.H.) (four) combined to net nine goals to lead Curry. Knowlton added five draw controls and a pair of ground balls to her night for the Colonels, while Dubel tacked on a pair of assists for a career-high six points in addition to four ground balls, two caused turnovers and a draw control. Senior middie Kelly Parker (Branford, Conn.) scored three times, picked up five draw controls and a ground ball for the visitors and senior attacker Lauren Carroll (Providence, R.I.) chipped in with a pair of scores and a draw control. Senior defender Abby Carnevale (Beverly, Mass.) led the defense with a team-high five ground balls and three caused turnovers. Senior goalie Rachel Smith (Arlington, Mass.) earned the victory with seven saves for Curry.
The Sharks scored two of the first three goals of the opening half, including a pair from Fries to take a 2-1 edge with 20:51 left in the half. It was the last lead Simmons enjoyed as the Colonels scored seven unanswered goals, while holding Simmons scoreless over the next 17:19 of action. Parker, Dubel and Carroll all scored two goals apiece during the run for Curry, including a free position tally from Carroll to give the Colonels an 8-2 lead with 5:07 to go in the period. Junior attacker Kiera Kirkaldy (Middlebury, Vt.) ended the scoring drought for the Sharks, scoring at the 3:32 mark to cut the deficit to 8-3. Curry responded with the final three goals of the half coming in the last two minutes, including two from Knowlton to give the Colonels a commanding 11-3 advantage at the intermission.
Knowlton scored the first goal of the second stanza just 59 seconds into the frame to give Curry a 12-3 cushion, but Simmons scored five of the next six goals, including two each from Fries and Giarrusso to pull the home team to within 13-8 with 15:54 remaining in the match. Dubel found the back of the net with 6:08 left in the game to end a spell of almost 12 and a half minutes without a goal and increased the Colonels lead to 14-8. Sophomore defender Mallory Cottam (Hope, R.I.) scored just 48 seconds later for the Sharks and Fries tallied her fifth goal of the night with 3:30 showing on the second-half clock to cut the margin to 14-10 for Simmons. The Sharks were unable to get any closer as Knowlton scored the final marker of the evening for Curry with 20 ticks left in the contest.
Simmons returns to action with a 4:00 p.m. match in New Haven, Conn. on Saturday, March 25, taking on Albertus Magnus College to open the Great Northeast Athletic Conference slate, while the Colonels head to North Dartmouth, Mass. on March 23 to play University of Massachusetts Dartmouth at 4:00 p.m.