DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Senior Breda Holland (Londonderry, N.H.) of the nationally-ranked Saint Anselm College women's lacrosse team captured her 100th career point in the Hawks 17-12 victory over Wingate University on Thursday afternoon on the campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Box Score
The Hawks improved their record to 3-0 on the young season, dropping Wingate to 1-5. The impressive start for Saint Anselm is its best record to open a season since an 8-0 stretch back in 2014.
Holland paced the Hawks in the first half with four goals scattered throughout the period, helping Saint Anselm pull away. Holland is now one of 17-plus student-athletes from Saint Anselm with 100 or more points in their career.
Sophomore Jenna Balboni (Billerica, Mass.) continued her hot streak to start the season, notching a team-high five goals and an assist in the victory. Balboni now has 14 goals and two assists in the first three games. Junior Annie Richards (Reading, Mass.) recorded four assists on the day, increasing her season total to a team-leading nine helpers.
The Hawks exchanged blows with the Bulldogs for much of the first half, going back and forth in goal scoring before Saint Anselm pulled ahead 9-7 at halftime. Sophomore Taylor Cobain (Smithfield, R.I.) book-ended the scoring for the Hawks in the half with her 11th and 12th tallies of the year. She added another goal in the second half as well.
Saint Anselm quickly took control in the second half with a four-goal stretch that put the Hawks ahead 13-8, and never looked back. The stretch spanned about five minutes, starting with a goal from junior Kelsey Czarnota (Wakefield, Mass.), with subsequent goals from freshman Alexa Palmisano (Woburn, Mass.), Balboni and Cobain. Palmisano recorded two goals for the Hawks who controlled the draw with a team-high five.
With a game-high lead of 16-10 with just under four minutes to play, the game was out of reach for the Bulldogs. Freshman Quinn O'Rourke (Falmouth, Mass.) fired her first career goal past the Wingate goalkeeper with just eight seconds remaining in the game, capping off the scoring for both teams.
The Hawks finished the contest with a 36-28 shots advantage while being perfect on the clear attempts, going 18-for-18.
Sophomore goalkeeper Grace Young (Merrimack, N.H.) earned her third win of the season in net, while stopping 10 Bulldog shots.
Saint Anselm will wrap up its Florida road trip with a neutral-site battle against Saint Thomas Aquinas on Saturday, Mar. 7 at 1 p.m. at the Balmoral Resort in Haines City, Florida.
