Seahawks ground Anchorwomen

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. – The Salve Regina women's lacrosse team used a pair of nine-goal halves to power its way past in-state rival Rhode Island College, Tuesday afternoon.

The win improves the Seahawks to 3-3 on the year while the Anchorwomen start the year 0-1.

The Seahawks jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead over the Anchorwomen as sophomore Abigail Tepper (Foxboro, Mass.), junior Sarah Woods (East Lyme, Conn.) and senior Grace Kelly (Auburn, N.Y.) all scored for the Seahawks in the first 8:29 of action. RIC got on the board just under a minute later as senior Jessalyn O'Neill (North Providence, R.I.) scored the Anchorwomen's first goal of the season to cut the Seahawk lead to 3-1.

Salve Regina then rattled off five-straight goals from five different players to take an 8-1 lead. Freshman Courtney Moulton (Merrimack, N.H.) kicked off the spree with 17:37 left in the half as she wrapped around the net and went low to beat the Anchorwomen keeper. After Woods and Kelly added both of their second goals of the game, freshman Kaitlin Gillespie (Haddam, Conn.) and junior Gina Tortorici (Deer Park, N.Y.) added their firsts of the day to extend the lead to 8-1 in favor of SRU.

Rhode Island College and Salve Regina swapped a goal each before the Anchorwomen went on their only run of the game, scoring three-straight to close out the half, all within 1:39 of each other. Juniors Danielle Landon (Wading River, N.Y.) and Jessica Ricci (Hope, R.I.) connected for a pair of goals in the run, first Ricci assisting Landon before Landon returned the favor with 15 seconds to play in the half. The Landon-Ricci connection was sandwiched around a goal from junior Harmony Tillison (Cranston, R.I.).

Leading by four goals, 9-5, to open the second half, the Seahawks broke open the game with four-straight goals to take a 13-5 lead just 3:11 into the final frame. Kelly scored a pair of unassisted goals while Woods and Tepper each netted a goal in the spree.

Landon briefly halted the Seahawk scoring outburst with her third of the game but the Seahawks went on another four-goal run to extend their lead to 17-6 with 17:40 to play. Moulton sent home her second of the day while Tepper completed a hat trick around sophomore Erin Gerhard's (Scituate, Mass.) and senior Karley Malenczak's (Sayville, N.Y.) firsts of the game.

Landon and freshman Jacqueline Pilatti (South Windsor, Conn.) traded goals as the Seahawks held on to their 11-goal lead but the Anchorwomen closed out the scoring with a  goal from O'Neill and Tillison to bring the score to its final, 18-9.

Kelly led the Seahawks with five points on the day (4g, 1a) while Tepper and Woods each recorded a hat trick for Salve Regina. Landon finished the day with five points for RIC (4g, 1a) while Tillison and O'Neill each had a pair of goals.

Senior Josephine O'Reilly (Middletown, R.I.) needed just five saves in the win for Salve Regina while her RIC counterpart, senior Taryn Carbone (Cranston, R.I.) made 10 saves in the loss for the Anchorwomen.

Rhode Island College returns to action when the Anchorwomen stay close to home and travel to Johnson & Wales for a 4 p.m. start on Thursday, March 20. The Seahawks welcome Bridgewater State to Gaudet Field on Thursday. The opening draw is set for 4:30.