BOSTON, Mass. -- The Simmons College women's lacrosse team was unable to prevent a comeback from host Emmanuel College (Mass.) as the Saints posted an 11-10 victory in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference game this evening at Roberto Clemente Field in Boston, Mass. The Sharks finish the regular season with an overall record of 8-8, including 4-6 in league play, while Emmanuel concludes its season at 3-11 and 3-7. Simmons heads into the GNAC Championship Tournament as the number seven seed and will travel to Auburndale, Mass. to take on second-seeded Lasell College on Saturday, April 28.

The Saints took advantage of 27 turnovers by the Sharks and owned a 39-27 shot margin for the match.

Junior midfielder Mallory Cottam (Hope, R.I.) led the Simmons offense with three goals and added three draw controls, two ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers, while senior attacker Kasey Fries (Bridgewater, Mass.) and sophomore midfielder Kingsley Richards (Lexington, Mass.) each netted a pair of goals. Junior defender Lauren Williams (Bowdoinham, Maine) led the defense with four caused turnovers and four ground balls. First year goalie Cat Cross (Beverly, Mass.) stopped 15 of 24 shots in 54:40 of action.

Sophomore attacker Kylie Rice (Bethlehem, Conn.) led all players with five goals and added four draw controls, two ground balls and a caused turnover for Emmanuel, while sophomore attacker Allison Hutchings (Billerica, Mass.) netted a pair of goals, including the eventual game-winner to go with two assists, a ground ball and a caused turnover. First year attacker Alexandria Ford (Springfield, Mass.) also contributed with three goals, an assist and a caused turnover, while senior middie Stephanie Warn (Hanson, Mass.) caused four turnovers, picked up a ground ball, won two draws and assisted on a goal. Senior Avery Yang (Lincoln, R.I.) stepped in to turn away six of 10 shots in net to earn the victory in 30 minutes of play in the second half, following Ford, who stopped two of eight shots in the opening half.

Rice gave the Saints their first lead of the game at 10-9 on a free position shot with 3:33 left to play in the contest. Hutchings increased the home team's lead to 11-9 with 51 seconds left in the match. Fries netted her 55th goal of the year to pull the Sharks to within a score with 17 ticks left on the clock, but it was the last marker of the night for either team as Emmanuel held on for the win.

Simmons scored the first four goals of the night, including a pair from Cottam to take a 4-0 lead with 22:18 left in the first half. The Saints pulled to within a goal with three unanswered scores in just under four minutes time, including one from Yang and two from Rice to make it 4-3 with 15:07 showing on the first half clock. Sophomore Krystianna Pietrzak (Bennington, Vt.) and Richards bookended Sharks' goals, in the final eight minutes of the period, around a marker from Emmanuel's Rice to give Simmons a 6-4 margin at the intermission. 

Ford and Cottam traded goals to open the second stanza and keep the Sharks in front by two goals, before Rice and Richards also exchanged goals with Simmons holding an 8-6 lead with 15 minutes remaining in the game. Ford scored just 33 seconds later and Rice found the back of the net at 11:51 to knot the score at 8-8 for the Saints.

First year midfielder Molly Reinhold (Mystic, Conn.) converted a free position shot for her 27th goal of the season and a 9-8 lead for the Sharks. It was the visitors' last lead of the night before Emmanuel completed its comeback.