MANCHESTER, N.H. – The No. 23 Saint Anselm College women's lacrosse fell to Bentley University by a 9-8 score on Wednesday.
The Hawks fall to 7-7 on the season and 5-6 in Northeast-10 Conference play while the Falcons, who are receiving votes in the most recent Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association poll, improve to 7-7 overall and 6-6 in conference play. Saint Anselm will head to No. 9 Stonehill College on Friday, Apr. 29 before heading to the College of Saint Rose on Saturday, Apr. 30 to conclude the regular season.
Prior to the start of the contest, the Hawks honored their 11 seniors with a pregame ceremony.
Senior Jenna Balboni (Billerica, Mass.) led the Saint Anselm offense with three goals. Balboni is now tied with Kaitlyn Stazinski '15 for ninth all-time in program history with 147 points.
Junior Lexi Palmisano (Woburn, Mass.) netted two goals for the Hawks while sophomores Isabella Stuzynski (Bedford, Mass.), Alison Ferullo (North Andover, Mass.), and Jess Sullivan (Wrentham, Mass.) scored one goal each. Stuzynski recorded her first collegiate assist in the contest.
Senior Grace Young (Merrimack, N.H.) stopped 13 shots on target for Saint Anselm. Young sits in fourth in career saves at 295, surpassing Zoie Cavotta '18. Young's 131 saves this season are eighth most in a single season on the Hilltop.
Bentley opened the contest with three goals in the game's opening 5:59. However, the Hawks would respond as Balboni started a four-goal run for Saint Anselm at 4:59. Palmisano made it two quick strikes for Saint Anselm, finding the back of the cage just 1:05 later. That brought the score to 3-2 in favor of Bentley through the opening quarter.
Saint Anselm tallied the first two goals of the second frame to take a 4-3 lead as Ferullo and Palmisano combined for the goals. Bentley's Kenzie Lupton would tie the score before Sullivan and Stuzynski went back-to-back, giving the Hawks a two-goal lead at 6-4 headed to the half.
The Bentley defense would hold Saint Anselm off the scoreboard from the 2:02 mark of the second quarter to 10:31 of the fourth. During that time, the Falcons attack potted three goals to take a 7-6 lead early in the fourth.
Balboni snapped the scoring drought before a pair of Maeve Johnson tallies pushed the Bentley lead to 9-7. The senior netted her third goal of the game just 20 seconds after Johnson's tally put the visitors up by two.
Saint Anselm had a great opportunity to tie the score with 2:38 left in regulation as Ferullo found herself open in front of the goal. However, Falcons goalkeeper Maya Rose made the stop on the shot attempt, marking the last strong scoring chance for the Hawks as Bentley held on to take the contest by a 9-8 score.
Bentley held a 35-17 advantage in shots including a 22-12 edge in shots on goal. Saint Anselm was 19-of-22 in clears while Bentley was 12-for-15. The Falcons grabbed 10 ground balls compared to eight for the Hawks.
