MANCHESTER, N.H. – Senior Meghan Smith (Pittsford, N.Y.) scored four goals, but the 15th-ranked Saint Anselm College women's lacrosse team fell to No. 2 Adelphi University, 22-12 Saturday afternoon at Grappone Stadium.
The Hawks fall to 3-5 on the season, including 1-3 in Northeast-10 play, while the Panthers improve to 6-1, 3-1 NE-10.
Adelphi jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first 8:42 of play as Erica Devito provided three goals. The Hawks snapped the run when freshman Marissa Daly (Marshfield, Mass.) found the back of the net with 20:30 remaining in the opening half.
After Meg Brown scored for the Panthers at the 18:44 mark, senior Shawna Walsh (Woburn, Mass.) potted a goal 45 seconds later to cut it to 7-2. Devito scored once more 38 seconds later and was followed by Michaelle Ceraso, who opened it up to 9-2 with 13:55 on the clock.
Junior Lauren Alfis (Hanover, Mass.) made good on a free-position opportunity 1:20 later, but three straight goals from the Panthers gave them a 12-3 lead with 2:56 to go. Alfis closed the first-half scoring when she scored off a feed from freshman Kaitlyn Stazinski (Pembroke, Mass.) with 1:53 left to make it 12-4.
Stazinski converted a free-position chance 38 seconds into the second half and Smith added an unassisted goal at 28:34 to trim the Adelphi lead to 12-6. Consecutive goals by Danielle Jaycox opened the Panthers' lead to eight nearly four minutes in.
Daly then scored off a pass from junior Carrie Brophy (Mansfield, Mass.) to make it 14-7 5:36 into the second half. After Marissa Mills found the back of the net 19 seconds later, Smith scored at the 21:30 mark to make it 15-8.
Three more Adelphi goals made it 18-8 before Smith scored again with 16:41 remaining. Brown scored again for the Panthers and then Walsh set up Brophy to make it 19-10 with 10:29 remaining.
Adelphi netted three more tallies to open it to 22-10 with 4:16 left. Freshman Sarah Doherty (Franklin, Mass.) scored off a feed from junior Britini Hickman (Farmington, N.H.) before Smith's free-position goal closed the scoring with 1:45 to play.
Freshman goalkeeper Allee Ramzi (Cumberland, R.I.) made one save in the first 8:42 of action before being replaced by Katherine Amato (Bedford, N.H.) who stopped seven shots in the final 51:18 of play. Jordann Dempsey made five saves playing the first 54:50, while Jennifer Rojas stopped one shot in the final 5:10.
Adelphi outshot Saint Anselm, 39-23, while the Hawks held a 19-17 edge in draw controls. The Hawks converted three of their six free-position opportunities, while the Panthers were 3-for-4.
The Hawks return to action Tuesday, March 27 at 4 p.m. when they take on crosstown rival Southern New Hampshire University at Larkin Field. The next home game for the Hawks is Saturday, March 31 at 3 p.m. when they play host to Assumption College at Grappone Stadium.
