GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – The Saint Anselm College women's lacrosse team saw its season come to an end on Thursday after falling to New Haven in the opening round of the 2025 NCAA Division II Women's Lacrosse Championship. Sophomore
Lucy Mawn (Harwich, Mass.) scored three goals in the loss for the Hawks, who finished the season with a 12-7 overall record. New Haven improved to 13-5 with the win and advances to the next round of the tournament, where they will face top-seeded Adelphi.
Score: No. 5 Saint Anselm 12, No. 4 New Haven 20
Records: No. 5 Saint Anselm (12-7), No. 4 New Haven (13-5)
Location: Garden City, N.Y. (Motamed Field – Adelphi University)
Date: Thursday, May 8, 2025
Attendance: 130
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- New Haven got out to fast start, scoring the first three goals of the game in the opening four minutes. Katie Schenk put the Chargers on the board less than two minutes in, and Sophia Minnion and Summer Castiglione added goals after that to put the Chargers in front, 3-0.
- Mawn won the ensuing draw control for Saint Anselm. She eventually took it down to the offensive end and scored the first goal of the afternoon for the Hawks, making it 3-1.
- The offense slowed down as the two sides combined for seven turnovers over the next seven possessions. Castiglione ended that sloppy spell with five minutes left in the quarter as she notched her second of the afternoon. Schenk added her second goal for the Chargers a minute later to make 5-1.
- With less than a minute left in the first quarter, Mawn found the back of the net once again for the Hawks, but Schenk responded at the other end with her third goal of the game just before the buzzer. That allowed New Haven to take a 6-2 lead entering the second quarter.
- Saint Anselm started the next period with the momentum as senior goaltender Elizabeth Driscoll (Marblehead, Mass.) denied a shot by Lindsey Belmonte. After a successful clear, senior Samantha Rivet (Sudbury, Mass.) scored for the Hawks to cut the deficit to 6-3.
- The Chargers answered with four unanswered goals in the final eight minutes of the first half, which allowed them to take a 10-3 lead at the intermission. Schenk scored twice for New Haven during that span, including with 56 seconds left, putting her at five goals for the game in only 30 minutes of action. The Chargers held the Hawks without a shot for the final 12 minutes of the half.
- Driscoll gave Saint Anselm some life to start the third quarter, making back-to-back saves on shots by Castiglione and Belmonte. However, New Haven eventually broke through a little over four minutes into the second half as Emma Cretella made it 11-3.
- Under 40 seconds later, Mawn completed her hat trick with her third goal of the game for the Hawks.
- 49 seconds after that, Helena Dunwoody increased the Chargers lead back up to eight goals with her first goal of the afternoon, making it 12-4.
- Saint Anselm countered with two straight goals, both scored by freshman Ayla McDermod (Hanover, Mass.), as they closed the gap to 12-6 with seven minutes left in the third.
- New Haven then capitalized on a Saint Anselm green card as Castiglione netted a player-up score.
- The Hawks won the following draw control and the scoring continued as senior Jaycie Balboni (Billerica, Mass.) finished to make it 13-7.
- With under five minutes left in the third, Dunwoody provided the Chargers with two more goals less than two minutes apart, which made it 15-7 and forced the Hawks to burn a timeout.
- Senior Abigail Christmas (Elmira, N.Y.) added one more goal for Saint Anselm with 15 seconds left in the quarter, but New Haven maintained a 15-8 lead entering the fourth.
- The Hawks did not go away easily and fought back with two quick goals inside the opening two minutes of the final period. Sophomore Alyssa Hill (Brookline, N.H.) set up goals by Rivet and sophomore Julia Rowley (Dover, N.H.) as Saint Anselm trimmed the deficit to 15-10 and forced a timeout by New Haven.
- The Chargers once again answered with two straight scores by Gianna Caprioli, including one on a free-position shot, which increased their lead back up to seven.
- Rowley then registered her second goal for the Hawks and made it 17-11 with 6:26 left in the game.
- New Haven added a couple of insurance tallies later in the quarter as Caprioli secured her hat trick with a player-up goal and Castiglione picked up her fourth of the game.
- Both teams added one final goal in the last two minutes of the contest. Christmas recorded a free-position goal for the Hawks, while Belmonte picked up another goal for the Chargers.
- New Haven ultimately came away with the win by a final score of 20-12 to advance to the next round of the NCAA postseason.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- New Haven nearly doubled up Saint Anselm in total shot attempts, 37-19. The Chargers also dominated with a 29-12 edge in shots on goal.
- The Chargers also led in draw controls, 23-12. Mawn had a team-high six draw controls for the Hawks.
- The Hawks held a slight 17-15 advantage in ground balls. Christmas had a team-high five ground balls for the Hawks, which matched her career-best for a single game.
- Saint Anselm committed 17 turnovers in the game, while New Haven had 15 giveaways.
- Defensively, the Hawks caused 10 of those turnovers, while the Chargers forced nine. Christmas and Mawn registered four caused turnovers apiece to lead the Hawks. It was a single game career-high for both players.
- On clear attempts, New Haven went 12-14 (85.7%) and Saint Anselm went 10-16 (62.5%).
- The Hawks scored twice out of four free-position shots (50.0%). The Chargers scored on their lone free-position chance of the game.
- The game featured seven total penalties with Saint Anselm being called for five and New Haven being called for two. There were six green cards and one yellow card issued.
- As a result, the Chargers scored three times on five extra-woman opportunities. The Hawks were held scoreless during a pair of player-up chances.
- Mawn led Saint Anselm with a team-high three goals. It was her third hat trick of the season and first since February. She ended the season with 25 goals, tied for fifth-most on the team.
- Christmas, McDermod, Rivet, and Rowley all scored twice for the Hawks, while Balboni scored once.
- Christmas wrapped up her senior season with her 13th multi-goal game and 41 total goals, the second-most on the team. McDermod closed out the campaign with a team-best 48 goals (tied for eighth-most in the NE10) after her 15th multi-goal performance of the spring.
- Rivet increased her goal total to 23 on the season, a new single season career-high. Rowley also finished with a new single season career-best of 16 goals.
- Hill picked up a pair of assists for Saint Anselm on the day. It was her eighth straight game with at least two helpers. She ended the year leading the team with 39 assists, the third-most in the NE10. Her 66 points also led the squad and are 10th-most in the league.
- Castiglione led New Haven with four goals and two assists for a game-high six points. Schenk had a five-goal performance for the Chargers, while Caprioli and Dunwoody each added five points on three goals and two assists.
- Driscoll made 10 saves in the cage for the Hawks in the loss. She ended her tenure on the Hilltop with the most career goaltendering victories (36) and the second-most saves (515) in program history.
- Madeline Sage made two saves and allowed 12 goals in net for the Chargers in the win.
- This marked the 27th all-time meeting between these two programs. Saint Anselm falls to 7-20 overall against New Haven in the series that began in 2001. The Hawks are now 0-2 all-time in the NCAA postseason.
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