DAVENPORT, Fla. -- Senior Kasey Fries (Bridgewater, Mass.) netted five goals and became the Simmons College women's lacrosse career leader in goals scored in a 22-8 victory over Saint Vincent College this evening at Northeast Regional Park in Davenport, Fla. The Sharks improve to 3-1 on the season, while the Bearcats fall to 0-1 in their season-opener.
Simmons owned a 29-12 shot advantage and held Saint Vincent to just an 8-16 success rate on clears.
Fries scored her second goal of the day with 18:56 left in the opening half to give the Sharks a 6-2 lead and break the school record for career goals, formerly held by Rachel Wallace (2010-13). Fries now has 141 lifetime markers and also added an assist and two ground balls. Junior midfielder Elena Bragg (Belmont, Mass.) scored four goals, won six draws and picked up four ground balls for Simmons, while classmate Mallory Cottam (Hope, R.I.) also netted four goals as one of five Sharks with three or more goals. She also added three draw controls. Junior attacker Missie Maiewski (Northampton, Mass.) tallied five points, including three goals in addition to a pair of ground balls and sophomore midfielder Kingsley Richards (Lexington, Mass.) scored a career-high three goals to go with a ground ball and draw control. First year goalie Cat Cross (Beverly, Mass.) earned her first collegiate victory with three saves.
Senior midfielder Maggie Nelson (Jefferson, Md.) led all scorers with seven points on six goals and an assist for the Bearcats and added eight draw controls, three ground balls and two caused turnovers. Sophomore midfielder Rachel Belles (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and junior midfielder Naomi Schwaiger (Greensburg, Pa.) each scored a goal for Saint Vincent. Belles added three ground balls and a trio of caused turnovers, while Schwaiger picked up three ground balls, won four draws and caused a pair of turnovers. Junior goalie Maria Franey (Export, Pa.) stopped four shots for the Bearcats.
Simmons scored the first three goals of the game, including two from Cottam, before Schwaiger and Nelson each scored to pull Saint Vincent to within 3-2 at the 21:43 mark of the opening half. The Sharks put together a 7-1 run, including three goals from Fries and a pair from Bragg, to take a 10-3 lead 16:31 remaining in the first half. Nelson found the back of the net at 15:21 of the first half for the Bearcats, but Simmons scored the final four goals of the half, including a pair from Cottam, to take a 14-4 advantage at the intermission.
Belles scored 53 seconds into the second stanza for Saint Vincent, before the Sharks came back with three straight goals, including two from junior attacker Ana Giarrusso (Hingham, Mass.), to take a 17-5 lead with 22:06 to go in the contest. Nelson scored back-to-back goals to pull Saint Vincent to within 17-7 at the 17:20 mark, before Simmons closed out the night with five of the last six goals, paced by two goals each from Maiewski and Fries, to come away with the win.
The Sharks return to action on Thursday, March 15 when they travel to Henniker, N.H. to take on New England College at 7:00 p.m., while the Bearcats head to Huntingdon, Pa. on March 14 to play Juniata College at 4:00 p.m.