MANCHESTER, N.H. – Caitlin Villareal registered a career-high nine points and Jane Bunn earned her school-record 22nd-career victory as the Saint Anselm College women's lacrosse team doubled up crosstown-rival Southern New Hampshire 16-8 on Tuesday evening at Larkin Field.
Box Score
Villareal scored six goals and added three assists for Saint Anselm (2-1, 1-1 NE-10), which recorded its first conference win of the season and won its fifth consecutive game in the series with Southern New Hampshire (5-2, 2-2 NE-10). The Penmen had won three-straight games entering the night.
Bunn made a season-high nine saves to move past Meghan Briggs' total of 21 wins in a Saint Anselm uniform. Counterpart Nicole Kennedy stopped two shots for the Penmen in 51:09 in net and fell to 5-2.
Erin Marshall and Marta Versprille also added hat tricks in the victory with Versprille doing so as part of a four-point night. Michelle Kudlate handed out three assists, Molly Beck had two goals and an assist and Emma Palumbo scored twice as well. Marshall controlled five draws and Liv Connly and Beck each snagged three ground balls.
Villareal got started quickly, scoring goals a minute apart inside the first 3:21 of the game for Saint Anselm. The Hawks built a 5-1 lead with 18:56 remaining in a low-scoring first half before the Penmen scored twice to get within two. Beck's goal with an extra player with 9:12 left until halftime was the final goal of the first half and made it 6-3 in favor of the Hawks.
Like the first half, Villareal got the scoring started in the second half for Saint Anselm and scored twice in the first 6:28 of the half to help the Hawks take a 10-4 lead. Southern New Hampshire got the next goal before the Hawks rattled off three in a row to build a sizeable 13-5 lead with 13:52 remaining.
Alexa Bedell led the Penmen with three goals. The Hawks held Kristin Wilder, the NE-10's leading scorer with 30 goals in six games, to two goals, both in the second half. Alexa Allen and Casey Duggan each had a goal and an assist for SNHU.
Southern New Hampshire owned a 20-12 advantage in ground balls but was just 3-for-10 on free position shots, compared to 4-for-7 for Saint Anselm. Both teams committed 20 fouls in the game but the Hawks capitalized on eight SNHU yellow cards by scoring five man-up goals.
Saint Anselm's next game is a road matchup at Stonehill on Thursday, March 24 at 7 p.m.
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