MANCHESTER, N.H. – The nationally-ranked Saint Anselm College women's lacrosse team defeated Saint Michael's College, 14-4, on Wednesday afternoon at Grappone Stadium.

BOX SCORE | VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

Senior Annie Richards (Reading, Mass.) led the team with seven points (2-5=7) on two goals and five assists to give her 83 in her career. Junior captain Jenna Balboni (Billerica, Mass.) earned her first hat trick of the 2021 season, posting four goals in the win. Balboni has now scored 52 goals in her career with 68 points. Senior captain Kelsey Czarnota (Wakefield, Mass.) and freshman Jess Sullivan (Wrentham, Mass.) joined Balboni with hat tricks of their own.

Richards has now tied Erin Marshall '16 for the fifth-most assists in a single Hawks career at Saint Anselm with 50. Balboni has now scored at least one goal in each of the past eight games. The Hawks have now recorded double-digit goals in the past seven straight games, dating back to the 2020 season.

Junior goalkeeper Grace Young (Merrimack, N.H.) captured her third win of the season and the eighth of her career, posting four saves and yielding only four goals. Her counterpart, Lucy Chin, stopped eight shots in the loss for Saint Michael's.

With Wednesday's win, the No. 21-ranked Hawks improve to 3-0 on the season while the Purple Knights fall to 0-3. Saint Anselm looks to keep the momentum going as they hit the road for the first time in the 2021 season, traveling to Stonehill College on Saturday, Apr. 10 for an 11 a.m. matchup.

The Hawks took control early, taking a 5-0 lead in the opening five minutes with Balboni netting two goals in the process. Ashley Turner of the Purple Knights earned the team's first goal at 20:10 of the first period, narrowing the margin to four goals. Czarnota, Sullivan, and senior Sarah Morey (Natick, Mass.) scored one each goal in a span of five minutes to open the Hawks advantage to a seven-goal lead, 8-1.

Saint Anselm and Saint Michael's held each other to one tally each in the remainder of the first half as Richards brought the Hawks into the halftime break with her second goal of the day. At the end of the first 30 minutes, the Hawks held a 23-5 shots advantage along with a 10-2 lead on draw controls.

Saint Anselm came out of the second half on fire, netting five straight goals to push away from the Purple Knights with a 14-2 lead with 18 minutes to go in the period. In that span, Sullivan and Czarnota would record their hat tricks while Balboni finished by scoring back-to-back goals to give the Hawks a 12-goal lead.

The Purple Knights stopped the Hawks from scoring in the rest of the game, despite putting two on the board for themselves. Amanda Drislane scored the Purple Knights' final two goals.

Czarnota finished the contest with a team-high five caused turnovers and one free-position goal. Sophomore Meghan Cotraro (Beverly, Mass.) also earned a team-high six draw controls in the win. Classmate Lexi Palmisano (Woburn, Mass.) led the squad with four ground balls in the game. As a team, the Hawks completed 19 of their 23 clear attempts.