WALTHAM, Mass. – The nationally-ranked Saint Anselm College women's lacrosse team saw its winning streak come to an end on Tuesday as No. 15-ranked Bentley University defeated the Hawks, 9-7.

The Hawks, ranked 20th in the latest Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Division II National Coaches' Poll, fall to 6-1 overall and to 5-1 against Northeast-10 Conference opponents while the Falcons, who came into the game ranked 15th in the country, improve to 8-2 overall and to 7-2 in NE10 play.

Saint Anselm, who defeated Bentley at home on Tuesday, Apr. 13, was led by two goal performances from sophomore Lexi Palmisano (Woburn, Mass.), senior Kelsey Czarnota (Wakefield, Mass.) and junior Jenna Balboni (Billerica, Mass.).

Junior goalkeeper Grace Young (Merrimack, N.H.) faced 19 shots and stopped 10 of them, yielding nine goals. Her counterpart, the reigning NE10 Goalkeeper of the Week Eliza Bresler, recorded nine saves.

The Falcons jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first nine minutes of the contest. Bentley would then apply heavy pressure on Saint Anselm, netting four straight tallies with three coming off the stick of Julia Glavin. The hosts would hold the Hawks to only one score in the opening half as senior Caroline Villareal (Portsmouth, N.H.) scored Saint Anselm's lone goal with under a minute to go.

At the halftime break, the Falcons led the shots advantage, 17-12, as the teams combined for 23 first-half turnovers. The home team claimed six of the eight first-half draw controls, helping them to the sizeable halftime lead.

Balboni cut the lead to a four-goal margin with 24:50 left on the clock, netting the Hawks first free-position goal in the game, but Caroline Affolter of the Falcons regained her team's five-goal advantage with 22:17 left in the second half.

Saint Anselm went on a 3-0 run in a span of eight minutes, thanks to tallies from Balboni, Palmisano, and Czarnota that trimmed the deficit to a two-goal margin. A goal by Sydney Lynch with the extra player put the hosts up 8-5 with 7:51 to play in regulation, but Saint Anselm continued to flex its muscle with several scoring opportunities. During that span, Villareal was denied on a free-position goal with just under 13 minutes to go.

After Palmisano reduced the deficit to two goals with 6:15 left on the clock, Glavin would finish the day with her fourth tally, providing a three-goal cushion, 9-6, with 3:26 remaining in the game.

Possession would go back-and-forth in each other's attacking ends until Czarnota converted a free-position goal with 46 seconds left, but the strong first half by Bentley proved to be the difference-maker in the battle of nationally-ranked opponents.

The Hawks return home on Thursday, Apr. 22 to take on the nationally-ranked Greyhounds from Assumption University at Grappone Stadium at 4 p.m.