MANCHESTER, N.H. – Senior Allee Ramzi (Cumberland, R.I.) stopped 12 shots and senior Marissa Daly (Marshfield, Mass.) scored three goals as the Saint Anselm College women's lacrosse team turned back seventh-ranked Stonehill College, 8-5, Wednesday afternoon at Grappone Stadium.
The Hawks win their fourth straight to improve to 8-6 on the season, including 7-5 in Northeast-10 play, while the Skyhawks, who lose for the third time in their last four games, drop to 13-3, 10-3 NE-10. Saint Anselm has now captured two straight in the series after Stonehill had won the first 18 meetings.
Saint Anselm is locked in as the No. 6 seed for the Northeast-10 Championship, which begins Wednesday, April 29. It will travel to take on the No. 3 seed, which will either be the eighth-ranked University of New Haven, top-ranked Adelphi University or Stonehill. A New Haven win against Franklin Pierce University on Saturday, coupled with an Adelphi win over third-ranked Le Moyne College, would give the Chargers the 3-seed, while a New Haven win and an Adelphi loss would mean the Panthers would be the 3-seed. Stonehill will claim the third-seed with a New Haven loss.
Daly got the Hawks off on the right foot as she collected a pass from fellow senior Kaitlyn Stazinski (Pembroke, Mass.) and found the back of the net just 3:17 into the contest to put the hosts up, 1-0. The other tri-captain, senior Sarah Doherty (Franklin, Mass.), also jumped in on the action as she converted a free-position attempt nearly three-and-a-half minutes later to stake the Hawks to a 2-0 lead.
After Caitlin Sweeney put the Skyhawks on the board at 19:35, Stazinski scored a goal of her own to open up a 3-1 lead with 15:52 remaining in the opening half. Stonehill scored at 9:22 and again at 4:30 to send the game into the halftime break tied at 3-all.
Saint Anselm came out in the second half and took control, with junior Caitlin Villareal (Portsmouth, R.I.) potting a free-position goal just 2:08 in to give the Hawks the lead for good. Daly then gave Saint Anselm some separation with a goal off a feed from Doherty at 24:22 and another at 20:15 off a pass from junior Erin Marshall (Woburn, Mass.) that made it 6-3.
Junior Katie McKenna (Danvers, Mass.) connected on a pass to Villareal for a goal at 17:17 and then Marshall scored one of her own with 14:01 remaining to give the Hawks an 8-3 advantage. Saint Anselm did a good job of milking the clock and maintaining possession as Stonehill was only able to score two more goals, including one with four seconds left.
Ramzi improved to a perfect 4-0 on the season – her personal four-game winning streak coinciding with the team's streak – by turning away 12 of the 17 shots she faced, while Ashley Armstrong made three saves for Stonehill.
The Skyhawks held a 22-15 advantage in shots, including 16-5 in the opening period, and also owned a commanding 12-4 margin in draw controls. Saint Anselm was 2-for-4 on its free-position tries, while Stonehill was 0-for-6.
The Hawks close out the regular season Saturday, April 25 at 1 p.m. when they take on Assumption College. Stay up-to-date with the latest news, including game previews and recaps, directly from the Saint Anselm College athletic department by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter @STAHawks.
