BOSTON, Mass. – Sophomore midfielder Molly Reinhold (Mystic, Conn.) tallied seven points, including six goals and senior midfielder Mallory Cottam (Hope, R.I.) became the sixth player in school history to score 100 career goals for the Simmons University women's lacrosse team in a 16-5 victory over visiting University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference match this evening at Daly Field in Brighton, Mass. The Sharks improve to 7-6 overall, including 5-4 in league play, while the Blue Jays fall to 2-11 and 0-10.
Simmons dominated play and possessed the ball most of the night with a 34-12 shot advantage and an 18-9 margin on ground balls. The Sharks defense also held their guests to a 7-for-16 success rate on clears.
Reinhold scored on all but two of her shots and added two draw controls and a ground ball for Simmons, while Cottam finished with three goals, six draw controls and a ground ball and now has 101 career markers. Senior attacker Missie Maiewski (Northampton, Mass.) netted three goals, assisted on one and picked up a ground ball. Senior Elena Bragg (Belmont, Mass.) contributed with a pair of goals and an assist to go with four ground balls and a draw control. Sophomore goalie Cat Cross (Beverly, Mass.) stopped two of four shots in the opening half, before yielding to first year Erin McIntyre (Cumberland, R.I.), who turned away one of four shots.
First year attacker Taya Valdez (East Lyme, Conn.) paced the Saint Joseph offense with three goals in addition to a pair of ground balls and a draw control, while junior attacker Charlotte Eberhardt (Thomaston, Conn.) found the back of the net twice, won three draws and picked up a trio of ground balls. First year goalie Silvana Barcomb (Middletown, Conn.) recorded seven saves.
The Sharks jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first 18 minutes of the game, including three goals from Reinhold and two each from Maiewski and Cottam. Cottam's 100th career marker came with 14:52 left in the first half.
Valdez put the Blue Jays on the board at the 5:03 mark of the first half to cut the deficit to 8-1. Simmons scored three unanswered goals, including a pair from Reinhold, before Eberhardt scored with 75 seconds left in the half for the Blue Jays to make it 11-2 at the intermission.
Junior midfielder Kingsley Richards (Lexington, Mass.) scored just 36 seconds into the second stanza for the Sharks, before Valdez scored her 23rd and 24th goals of the year on free position opportunities to pull USJ to within 12-4 with 21:42 showing on the second half clock.
Simmons scored four of the final five markers to close out the contest. Reinhold tallied her team-leading 45th of the year for the Sharks and first year Lilly Devitt (Belmont, Mass.) netted her sixth for the home squad.
Eberhardt broke up the four goals by Simmons, with a score of her own at 7:53 of the second half, before Bragg and Maiewski concluded the scoring for the Sharks and set the final at 16-5.
Simmons returns to action on Saturday, April 20 when it hosts cross-street rival Emmanuel College (Mass.) at 11:00 a.m. on Daly Field, while the Blue Jays head to Paxton, Mass. to take on Anna Maria College at 1:00 p.m.