Hawks win battle of birds against Seahawks

BRISTOL, R.I. – The Roger Williams University women's lacrosse team stifled Salve Regina in a convincing 15-3 victory.  The Hawks improve to 4-6 overall and 2-2 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference and the Seahawks drop to 3-7 and 0-3 in the CCC.

The Hawks set the tempo in the first half by pressuring the ball in each third of the field and scoring the first four goals.  Mackenzie Logan (Sussex, N.J.) struck first taking advantage of a free position attempt from the right side of the arc at 29:14.  The Hawks took the following draw control and turned it into a fast break opportunity that connected Kelsey Rahilly (East Longmeadow, Mass.) with McKenna Everding (Fayetteville, N.Y.) for the finish. Rahilly operating from behind the crease found Samantha Davenport (Bethel, Conn.) cutting to the front of the goal for the finish that put the Hawks up three with 20:52 to play in the first half.

Kaitlin Gillespie (Haddam, Conn.) broke the seal for the Seahawks marking the left side of the net on a free position attempt.

Rahilly continued with her role as playmaker finding Deven Machette (Norwalk, Conn.) for the finish at 00:36.  Logan picked up a rebound in front of the goal that she flipped in to put the halftime score at 6-1 in favor of the Hawks. RWU opened the second half with three unanswered goals to put the Hawks up 9-1. Rahilly dished to Everding at 29:39, Jessica Searl (Glastonbury, Conn.) hit Logan at 28:17, and Rahilly found Machette at 27:55.

Grace Kelly (Auburn, N.Y.) answered for Salve Regina finishing a free position attempt at 26:47. 

The Hawks would continue to onslaught posting two more scores by Machette on assists from Everding at 26:21 and Rahilly at 24:19.

Abigail Tepper (Foxboro, Mass.) put Salve Regina back on the board at 23:04 driving to the front of the goal and finishing over a trio of defenders.

RWU answered with three more scores to push the count to 14-3.  Caitlin Murphy (Londonberry, N.H.) took a pass from Searl at 19:54, Everding finished a feed from Kristin Pingree (Georgetown, Mass.), and Searl connected with Logan at 10:28.

The team traded goals in the closing minutes to bring the final score to 15-3

Josephine O'Reilly (Middletown, R.I.) tallied four saves in the loss while Kimberly Bolk (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) stopped six shot in the win.

The Seahawks are back in action Thursday, April 3 to take on the Colonels of Curry College at 4:00 p.m. in Milton Mass. while the Hawks will return to play on Saturday, April 5 at 3:30 p.m. to take the University of New England at Bayside Field on the campus of RWU in Bristol, R.I.