Burke, Jones lead Seahawks to victory

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. – The Salve Regina women's lacrosse team earned a convincing 19-6 win over visiting Simmons behind a six-point performance from senior Jennifer Jones (Basking Ridge, N.J.) Tuesday night.

With the victory, the Seahawks improve to 1-1 on the young season while the Sharks slip to 0-1 to open the year.

Salve Regina got off to a quick start, scoring five-straight goals in the first 10 minutes of actions. Junior Alyssa Corvi (Barrington, R.I.) kicked the scoring off for Salve Regina after senior Danielle Malconian (Belmont, Mass.) picked up a ground ball off a turnover and get it to Corvi who made a nice move past a defender and beat the keeper to give SRU a 1-0 lead 3:58 into action.

Senior Kelly Burke (Georgetown, Mass.) and Jones put the Seahawks up 3-0 with back-to-back goals within 30 seconds of each other before sophomore Gina Tortorici (Deer Park, N.Y.) pushed the lead to 4-0 with her fourth goal of the season. Jones finished off the 5-0 run to open the game with her second goal of the game and fifth of the year.

Freshman Greer Gilbert (Falmouth, Mass.) halted the Salve Regina run with a goal off a free position shot with 20:29 left on the clock.

Burke answered that goal for the Seahawks with her second tally of the game off an assist from junior Grace Kelly (Auburn, N.Y.) with 19:04 showing.

The Sharks held the Seahawks to a short scoring drought, not allowing another goal until the 10:23 part when Jones sent home for third of the game. Just under a minute later, Kelly put Salve Regina up 8-1 with a free position goal while the Seahawks held a man advantage.

Salve Regina held the 8-1 advantage into the intermission.

Simmons exploded out of half time with three-straight goals to cut into the Seahawk lead, 8-4. Sophomore Stephanie Oliveri (Waltham, Mass.), senior Rachel Wallace (Braintree, Mass) and junior Callie Warnock (Kingston, Mass.) each scored for the Sharks in the opening four minutes of the second half.

Seahawks head coach Jennifer Foster called a well-timed timeout and sparked a seven-goal  run for Salve Regina. Freshman Abigail Tepper (Foxboro, Mass.) scored her third collegiate goal to kick off the run just under five minutes into the final frame. Sophomore defender Sarah Woods (East Lyme, Conn.) took advantage of the man-up opportunity and pushed the Seahawk lead to 10-4.

Kelly and Jones scored back-to-back goals on a pair of assists from Burke to extend the lead to 12-4. Tortorici netted her second of the game with 21:50 remaining to give Salve Regina a nine goal lead, 13-4.

With Corvi's second goal of the contest, the Seahawks took a 10-goal lead, 14-4, with 19:09 left. Burke capped off the Seahawks run with her second goal of the game.

After a scoring drought lasting 9:48 of action, Gilbert buried her second and third of the game to cut the lead to 15-6 with 5:55 to play. With just five seconds left, Jones completed her six-point game with her fifth goal of the game off an assist from Tortorici.

Salve Regina junior Josephine O'Reilly (Middletown, R.I.) made 11 saves in the win while sophomore Crystal Derosier (Kingston, Mass.) stopped nine shots in the loss.

Salve Regina returns to the turf when the Seahawks host UMass. Boston on Saturday, March 9 at Gaudet Field. The opening draw is set for 1 p.m.