WOMEN'S LACROSSE CRUISES PAST RIVIER, 19-6

BOSTON, Mass. –The Emmanuel College women's lacrosse team scored eight unanswered goals to break open a one-goal game en route to a 19-6 victory over Rivier University Wednesday evening in Great Northeast Athletic Conference action at Roberto Clemente Field. The Saints improve to 3-6 overall and 2-2 in GNAC play while the loss drops the Raiders to 1-10 and 0-5.

EC got on the board just 17 seconds into the contest on a quick score by senior Abaigeal Merrigan (Rye, N.H.) to make it 1-0 before the Raiders answered at the 26:22 marker on a free-position score by freshman Amanda Barton (Pelham, N.H.) to even the score at 1-1. Less than 30 seconds later, Emmanuel regained the lead on senior Amanda Cook's (Saco, Maine) third goal of the year to bump the score to 2-1. Senior Emily Baker (Stratham, N.H.) increased the lead to 3-1 triggering a Rivier timeout with 24:17 remaining in the stanza. Off the ensuing restart, the Raiders came down and immediately scored on freshman Sally Kennedy's (Billerica, Mass.) first goal of the night to pull the visitors to within a goal at 3-2.

Baker made it 4-2 with her second goal of the night on a fast break score assisted by Allison Hutchings (Billerica, Mass.) with 17:53 to play in the half. The Raiders kept pace as freshman Dzenana Omerovic (Revere, Mass.) converted another free-position attempt to pull Rivier to within one score at 4-3. Merrigan got the goal back to make it 5-3 with her second tally of the evening, finishing a free-position shot for her fifth goal of the season.

Emmanuel senior middie Savannah Lundwall (Fiskdale, Mass.) got into the scoring column with a man-up score with 7:02 left in the first half and then assisted on the next EC goal scored by junior Avery Yang (Lincoln, R.I.) to make it 7-3. Lunwall made it 8-3 with just 10 seconds left in the half, finishing off a pass from Baker to give the Saints a five-goal cushion heading into halftime.

Hutchings and Lundwall opened the second half scoring with goals in the first 2:24 to put the Saints in double-digits with a 10-3 lead. Back-to-back goals from Baker increased the lead to 12-3 before Barton broke the Raiders' scoring drought with her second goal of the action to make it 12-4 with less than 20 minutes to play in regulation. Hutchings answered with her second goal of the half to put the hosts on top 13-4 before Barton responded with her third of contest to account for a 13-5 score with 16:41 to play.

Baker and Lundwall added goals to make it a 10-goal margin at 15-5 which was more than enough as the Saints cruised to a 19-6 win. Both Baker and Lundwall finished with eight points as Baker scored six goals to go along with two assists compared to five goals and three assists from Lundwall.

EC goalie Bethany Bonilla-Colon (Milton, Mass.) made nine saves to earn the win while Rivier goalkeeper Courtney Laperriere (Keene, N.H.) stopped eight shots between the pipes.

Emmanuel returns to action on Saturday, April 15 as the Saints head to Providence, R.I. to take on Johnson & Wales University at 1:00 PM while the Raiders are now idle until Monday, April 17 when they play host to Dean College in non-conference play at 6:00 PM.

Monday, April 17 when they play host to Dean College in non-conference play at 6:00 PM.