ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – The nationally-ranked Saint Anselm College women's lacrosse team opened its spring break trip with a 16-5 win over Flagler College on Monday.

The Hawks improve to 2-0 on the season while the Saints fall to 4-5. Saint Anselm, who is ranked No. 21 in the most recent ILWomen/IWLCA National Poll, is set to square off with No. 23 Saint Leo University on Wednesday, Mar. 16 from Saint Leo, Fla.

Junior Lexi Palmisano (Woburn, Mass.) paced the Hawks offense with five goals while sophomores Isabella Stuzynski (Bedford, Mass.) and Alison Ferullo (North Andover, Mass.), and senior Jenna Balboni (Billerica, Mass.) netted two goals each. Four other Saint Anselm student-athletes netted one goal in the contest.

Sophomore Jess Sullivan (Wrentham, Mass.) recorded four assists in the contest while Balboni added three assists, joining Palmisano with five-point performances. Balboni eclipsed the 100-point mark in the contest and now sits at 103 (80-23=103) for her career. Balboni hit the 100-point mark with her second goal in the first quarter, which gave the Hawks a 3-0 lead at the time.

Senior Grace Young (Merrimack, N.H.) made 10 saves on 15 shots on goal for the Hawks. Young now has a 5.50 goals-against average and a .601 save percentage through two games this season.

Balboni, senior Annie Richards (Reading, Mass.), and Palmisano combined for the first five goals of the game, giving the Hawks a 5-0 lead with 4:11 left in the first quarter. Katie Stubits got the Saints on the board with 1:09 remaining in the quarter but a last minute goal by Ferullo gave the Hawks a 6-1 edge through the opening 15 minutes of play.

Neither team found the back of the cage for the first six minutes of the second quarter but Stuzynski's first goal of the contest snapped the scoring drought. However, Flagler would respond with three consecutive goals from Jordan Shughrue, Jordan Green, and Ally Miller which pushed the score to 7-4. Saint Anselm potted two goals from senior Taylor Cobain (Smithfield, R.I.) and Ferullo in a span of 40 seconds which gave Saint Anselm a 9-4 with 2:13 left in the first half.

Saint Anselm outscored Flagler by a 5-0 margin in the third quarter and scored the first goal of the fourth quarter, part of eight consecutive goals by the Hawks.

The Hawks held the Saints off the scoreboard from the 4:51 mark of the second quarter to the 10:39 point of the fourth quarter, which is 24:12 of the contest. Sophomore Erin Doyle (Weymouth, Mass.) and
junior Ellie Richards (Reading, Mass.) scored their first goals of the season in the fourth quarter as Saint Anselm held a 2-1 edge in fourth quarter scoring.

In the contest, Saint Anselm was 23-of-24 in clears and held a 30 to 15 margin in shots on goal. The Hawks also collected 19 ground balls and forced eight turnovers. Flagler grabbed 14 draw controls compared to 11 for Saint Anselm.