NEW BRITAIN, Conn. -- Senior attacker Kasey Fries (Bridgewater, Mass.) tallied a game-high six points and sophomore defender Krystianna Pietrzak (Bennington, Vt.) scored her first collegiate goal in a 15-5 victory over host University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference match played at Central Connecticut State University's Arute Field in New Britain, Conn. The Sharks improve to 8-6 overall and 4-4 in GNAC play, while the Blue Jays fall to 2-8 and 0-8.
Simmons dominated the shots by a count of 43-15, while holding Saint Joseph to single-digit attempts in each half. The Sharks also owned margins in draw controls (13-9) and groundballs (28-20), while forcing the Blue Jays into 30 turnovers and holding them to a 14/31 clear success rate.
Fries matched her season-high in points on five goals and an assist in addition to four ground balls for Simmons, while junior midfielder Mallory Cottam (Hope, R.I.) picked up three points on two goals and an assist to go with four draw controls, three caused turnovers and two ground balls. First year midfielder Molly Reinhold (Mystic, Conn.) netted two goals and won a game-best six draws in addition to five ground balls and three caused turnovers and junior defender Lauren Williams (Bowdoinham, Maine) found the back of the net twice and added four ground balls, three caused turnovers and a draw control. Pietrzak added a ground ball, a caused turnover and a draw control to her night. First year goalie Cat Cross (Beverly, Mass.) stopped three of seven shots in the first half, before yielding to senior Chyenne Yeager (Indiana, Pa.).
Senior attack Hannah Lemek (Bristol, Conn.) led Saint Joseph with four goals in addition to five draw controls, a ground ball and a caused turnover, while sophomore midfielder Charlotte Eberhardt (Thomaston, Conn.) netted a goal, picked up five ground balls, won a pair of draws and caused two turnovers. First year midfielder Raelynn Voislow (Windsor Locks, Conn.) contributed with five ground balls and a caused turnover. Senior goalie Emily Bourassa (Bristol, Conn.) turned away a season-high 18 shots for the Blue Jays.
Pietrzak scored the first goal of the night for the Sharks for her first collegiate tally with 26:41 left in the opening half. Simmons scored the next five goals over the next 12 minutes, including two from Fries, to take a 6-0 advantage with 14:45 showing in the first half. Saint Joseph responded with three unanswered goals from Lemek in a span of 3:34 to cut the deficit to 6-3 with 8:06 left in the half. Fries and Lemek traded goals before the end of the period as the Sharks took a 7-4 lead into the break.
Simmons put the game away with six straight goals to open the second stanza, including two more from Fries, to increase the Sharks' lead to 13-4 with 19:30 to play in the match. Eberhardt broke up the scoring spree for the Blue Jays with their only marker of the half coming at 19:11. Senior attack Jolene Potter (Readfield, Maine) and Reinhold each netted a goal apiece to close out the scoring for either team and give Simmons a 15-5 lead.
The Sharks will be in action again on Saturday, April 21 when they host GNAC foe Regis (Mass.) at 11:00 a.m., while Saint Joseph travels to take on Newbury College at Hormel Stadium at 3:00 p.m.