BOSTON, Mass. – Seniors Mallory Cottam (Hope, R.I.) and Elena Bragg (Belmont, Mass.) each netted four goals to lead the Simmons University women's lacrosse team over visiting Emmanuel College (Mass.), 17-7, this afternoon in Great Northeast Athletic Conference action at Daly Field in Brighton, Mass. The Sharks win their third straight match to improve to 8-6 overall and 6-4 in league play, while the Saints fall to 6-8 and 4-6.
The Simmons defense made it difficult for Emmanuel to clear the ball throughout the match, holding its guests to just an 11-21 success rate, including 4-9 in the second half and forced the Saints into 24 turnovers, while allowing just two second half goals. The Sharks' offense did their part as well, owning a decisive 34-18 shot advantage and converted five of six free position scoring opportunities.
Cottam tallied six points, including a pair of assists and added five draw controls, four ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers for Simmons, while Bragg assisted on a goal, won a draw, picked up a ground ball and caused a turnover in the seniors final home match of their respective careers. Senior attacker Missie Maiewski (Northampton, Mass.) and sophomore midfielder Molly Reinhold (Mystic, Conn.) each scored three times and assisted on a goal with Reinhold also winning five draws, scooping up a pair of ground balls and causing a turnover. Junior midfielder Amina Mansouri (Revere, Mass.) matched her career best with a pair of goals to go with two ground balls and a caused turnover and senior defender Lauren Williams (Bowdoinham, Maine) intercepted a pass to become the school's career leader in caused turnovers with 74. Sophomore goalie Cat Cross (Beverly, Mass.) stopped four shots to earn the win for the Sharks.
First year attacker Chandra Franca (Woburn, Mass.) matched her career high with four goals in addition to three draw controls to lead Emmanuel. Sophomore attacker Emily Saef (Moultonborough, N.H.) netted a pair of goals, picked up three ground balls, won a pair of draws and caused a turnover, while sophomore attacker Aisling Butler (Westfield, Mass.) came off the bench to score a goal. Senior defender Rachael Downey (Holliston, Mass.) contributed with three ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers for the Saints. Senior goalie Bethany Bonilla-Colon (Milton, Mass.) made 10 saves in the loss.
Franca wasted no time in getting Emmanuel on the scoreboard, finding the back of the net just 25 seconds into the match for a 1-0 edge. It was the Saints' only lead of the day as Simmons scored six of the next seven goals over the next 15-plus minutes. Cottam scored a pair of goals during the stretch and Maiewski gave the Sharks a 6-2 lead with 14:01 showing on the board.
Saef and Franca sandwiched goals around a Mansouri marker to pull Emmanuel to within 7-4 with 7:53 remaining in the opening half, before Simmons scored four of the final five goals of the period. Bragg scored three times in a four and a half minute span, including twice in the final 64 seconds of the half to give the Sharks an 11-5 cushion at the intermission.
Reinhold continued the Simmons momentum into the second half, scoring just 83 seconds into the stanza, but Saef answered just under four minutes later with her team-leading 39th goal of the season to cut the deficit to 12-6 at the 24:39 mark. Cottam scored 1:03 later for the Sharks to spark a run of five unanswered goals, including two from Cottam and a marker from junior midfielder Kingsley Richards (Lexington, Mass.) to cap the scoring for the home team and make it 17-6 with 16:02 showing on in the second half.
Butler scored the final marker of the day on a free position opportunity for Emmanuel to set the score at 17-7 with 8:23 to play.
Simmons returns to action for its final regular season tilt on Wednesday, April 24 when it travels to Northfield, Vt. to take on GNAC foe Norwich University at 4:00 p.m., while the Saints close out the regular slate on the same day, hosting Rivier University at Clemente Field at 7:00 p.m.