Women's Lacrosse Uses Impressive Defensive Effort to Roll Past Simmons, 9-5

BOSTON – In a contest between schools separated by just one street, the Emmanuel College women's lacrosse team (3-3, 1-0 GNAC) was victorious over Colleges of the Fenway partner Simmons University (2-5, 0-1 GNAC), 9-5, Saturday afternoon at Clemente Field. With just five goals allowed, it was the Saints' best defensive effort on the young season as Emmanuel earned a Great Northeast Athletic Conference victory in their first conference matchup of the campaign.

Just 40 seconds into the game, Livia Fedele (Spencerport, N.Y.) posted the Saints first goal to give the home side an early edge. The Sharks were quick to respond, drawing a foul near the Saints net leading to a free position opportunity. Cameron Richards (Lexington, Mass.) stepped up for the Sharks, leveling the match after one minute and 12 seconds of play.

The two sides traded goals back and forth for the remainder of the half. It was Fedele, again, who scored from a free position to give Emmanuel a 4-3 advantage that would last the remaining seven minutes prior to the halftime horn. At the break, Fedele had already tallied three goals and an assist to lead the Saints attack.

Simmons leveled the match for a fourth time less than a minute into the second half. Kat Wood (Chelmsford, Mass.) received a feed from Campbell Crane (Portsmouth, R.I.) and beat the Saints goalkeeper to deadlock the contest at four. With a player in the penalty area and ten minutes to play in the third quarter, Maddie Kross (Bolton, Conn.) secured an Emmanuel lead again. The Sharks responded, leveling the game at five only one minute later.

Simmons' fifth goal of the day would turn out to be their last. Emmanuel performed an impressive defensive effort to silence the Sharks offense for the final 23 minutes and 47 seconds. The Saints finished the Colleges of the Fenway contest with four unanswered goals from four different players to earn a 9-5 victory in their GNAC season opener.

Fedele led the Saints with three goals and two assists on the afternoon. Delaney Brown (Agawam, Mass.) and Alexandra Gencarelli (Bradford, R.I.) played major parts in the strong defensive effort by Emmanuel with Brown causing four turnovers and Gencarelli forcing three. Brown also was the match leader in ground balls with six. Frida Turriza (Windham, N.H.) led the Sharks with two goals and six draw controls in the loss.

Up next, Simmons will travel to Colby-Sawyer College on Friday (3/22) for a GNAC divisional matchup with Colby-Sawyer at 4:30 P.M. The Saints will pay a visit to Bridgewater State for a nonconference contest on Wednesday (3/20) at 6:00 P.M.