Winter Park, Florida (March 6)-The Saint Anselm College women's lacrosse team fell to the Golden Knights of Gannon University 21-10 in their season opener in Winter Park, Florida on Friday afternoon.

The Hawks took an early 2-0 lead on goals from sophomores Emily Traicoff (Beverly, Mass.) and Courtney Ford (Concord, Mass.) before the 24:18 mark in the first half.

Gannon took their first lead of the game on a goal from Mary Eshenour (Waterloo, N.Y.) with just over seventeen minutes remaining in the first half to make it 4-3.

The Golden Knights then exploded on a 7-3 run until Traicoff added her second of the game for the Hawks with six seconds left in the half to cut the lead to 11-7.

The home team continued to build on their lead, rattling off seven unanswered goals to make it 19-7 Gannon.

Saint Anselm senior Michaela Rocha (Rye, N.H.) ended the streak with her second lamplighter of the game with 12 minutes left in regulation to make it 19-8.


The Hawks and Golden Knights would each add two more goals each for the 21-10 final.

Rocha's three goals and two assists were good enough to lead the Hawks on the day, while freshman midfielder Meghan Smith (E. Rochester, N.Y.) made her collegiate debut with a two goal and one assist effort.

Leading the way for Gannon was Krista Schunk (Honeyoe Falls, N.Y.) and Taryn Millerd (Shortsville, N.Y.) with five goals each.

Gannon goalie Acacia Cook (Syracuse, N.Y.) grabbed the win making 13 saves and allowing 10 goals for the Golden Knights, while Hawk netminder Katherine O'Hara (Norwell, Mass.) made seven saves and allowed 21 scores in the losing effort.

The Hawks hit the field again, tomorrow, with a game against Kenyon at 11 a.m. in Winter Park, Florida.