MANCHESTER, N.H. – The No. 20 Saint Anselm College women's lacrosse team downed Franklin Pierce University under the lights of Grappone Stadium on Wednesday by a 12-10 score.
With the win, the Hawks snap a four-game losing skid and improve to 7-5 on the season with a 5-4 mark in Northeast-10 Conference action. The Ravens fall to 4-9 overall and 4-7 in conference contests. Saint Anselm heads to No. 23 University of New Haven on Saturday, Apr. 23. The contest from West Haven, Conn. is slated for a 1 p.m. start.
Junior Lexi Palmisano (Woburn, Mass.) and sophomore Jess Sullivan (Wrentham, Mass.) netted four goals each to lead Saint Anselm. Senior Jenna Balboni (Billerica, Mass.) scored two goals and assisted on three others for a game-high five points.
Palmisano becomes the first Saint Anselm student-athlete to reach 40 goals in a single season since Molly Beck '19 netted 40 in the spring of 2019.
Balboni needs just five points to move into the top-10 in all-time points. The senior currently sits at 140 career points and is chasing Erica Mattila '18, who is 10th with 144 points in her time on the Hilltop.
Senior Annie Richards (Reading, Mass.) registered two assists in the tilt, bringing her career total to 99. Richards needs just one helper to hit 100 career assists and would be the first women's lacrosse student-athlete to reach that mark. Richards sits at 32 assists for the season and has tied her mark from last spring, which is third most in a single season in program history.
Senior Grace Young (Merrimack, N.H.) made nine saves in the cage for Saint Anselm, posting her seventh win of 2022. Six of the senior's saves came in the second half with four alone down the stretch in the fourth quarter.
Palmisano, Balboni, and Sullivan gave the Hawks a 3-0 lead in just 2:34 into the contest. However, Franklin Pierce would respond with three consecutive goals of its own from Morgan Blaxendale and Kaitlyn Daly following a timeout. Saint Anselm netted the next two goals as Palmisano and Sullivan struck just 49 seconds apart from each other but a goal by Gabrielle Oswald with 53 seconds left in the first quarter pushed the score to 5-4 through the opening 15 minutes.
Saint Anselm regained its three-goal edge with back-to-back goals in the second quarter. Senior Taylor Cobain (Smithfield, R.I.) found the back of the cage at 12:38 before Palmisano added an unassisted goal at the 6:42 mark. Franklin Pierce netted two of the final three goals of the second quarter as Savannah Ernst and Caroline Lounsbury sandwiched a Balboni goal which made the score 8-6 at the half.
Franklin Pierce outscored the Hawks in the third quarter by a 4-3 margin. Sullivan accounted for the first two Hawks goals, which were traded by Daly and a down-goal by Oswald. Jenna Cimbrom brought the visitors back to within one at the 5:01 mark but Palmisano netted her fourth goal of the game at 3:55 which proved to be the game-winner. Franklin Pierce maintained its one-goal deficit as Daly struck again just 40 seconds later which brought the score to 11-10 headed to the final regulation period.
Sophomore Alison Ferullo (North Andover, Mass.) netted her first goal of the contest at 10:23 of the fourth quarter. That was the only tally of the final 15 minutes of play as Young and the Hawks would hold Franklin Pierce off the scoreboard for the final 18:15 of regulation, posting a 12-10 win.
Both teams fired 28 shots in the contest with the Hawks holding a 21-19 edge in shots on goal. The Ravens were 21-23 in clears compared to 17-20 for Saint Anselm. The Hawks held an 18-8 edge in draw controls.
