MANCHESTER, N.H. – In a battle of nationally-ranked women's lacrosse teams, Saint Anselm College came away with a 12-11 victory over Bentley University under the lights of Grappone Stadium on Tuesday.

With the victory, the No. 21-ranked Hawks remain undefeated (5-0, 4-0 NE10), having won each of their nine previous contests dating back to the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. Bentley, ranked No. 13 in NCAA Division II, falls to 5-2 overall and to 4-2 against Northeast-10 Conference opponents.

Saint Anselm nets its first victory over a nationally-ranked program since Apr. 24, 2018 when the Hawks held on for a narrow 12-11 win over Assumption at Grappone Stadium. The Hawks return to action on Thursday, traveling to Southern New Hampshire University for a 4:30 p.m. showdown at Penmen Stadium.

Sophomore Lexi Palmisano (Woburn, Mass.) led Saint Anselm with two goals and two assists for four points (2-2=4) and led the way with six draw controls. Freshman Jess Sullivan (Wrentham, Mass.) and Jenna Balboni (Billerica, Mass.) each scored three goals to support the Hawks offense.

On defense, senior Julia McCarthy (Marshfield, Mass.) caused four turnovers and Caroline Guzzardi (Boxborough, Mass.) led all field players with four ground balls on the day.

The Hawks scored two of the game's first three goals, but Bentley opened up a 4-2 lead in the game's first 9:21 thanks to four different goal scorers. Saint Anselm responded with a 4-0 run, taking a 6-4 lead, but the Falcons spanned halves with five of the game's next seven goals to take a brief 9-8 lead with 20:29 left in regulation time.

Saint Anselm earned the hard-fought victory with four consecutive goals from that point forward, creating a 12-9 lead that was capped by a Caroline Villareal (Portsmouth, R.I.) player-up goal following a Bentley yellow card. The Falcons' Cara McCarthy scored two of her team-leading four goals within the final two minutes, but Saint Anselm forced a turnover in the game's final 30 seconds to hold on to the win.

Hawks goaltender Grace Young (Merrimack, N.H.) earned the win, making eight saves on 19 shots to move to 5-0 on the season. Eliza Bresler, the reigning NE10 Goaltender of the Week, made 11 saves but conceded 12 goals to draw the loss.

Saint Anselm owned the narrow edge in shots taken (31-to-28) and picked up 19 of the game's 35 ground balls. The Hawks failed on just two of their 18 clears while Bentley committed six turnovers on its 14 first-half clearance attempts alone, finishing the day with a 15-for-24 record. The Hawks won 13 draws, edging Bentley who posted 12.

Kerry Zachman led Bentley with four caused turnovers. Five student-athletes tied for the team lead with two ground balls.