Second-half surge powers Nor'easters past Seahawks
BIDDEFORD, Maine -- The University of New England out-scored Salve Regina University by six after halftime to extend to a 15-6 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women's lacrosse victory on Saturday afternoon (Apr. 11) at the Big Blue Turf.
Big Blue (6-7, 3-2 CCC) has now bettered the Seahawks (3-8, 1-5 CCC) in the last four meetings between the squads.
The Nor'easters displayed a balanced attack, with Gina Newsome and Katie Cawley each tallying three goals and adding an assist. Nikki Smith, Hannah Warren, and Brooke Kelleher chipped in with two apiece; Kelleher and Rachel Schwaner recorded two assists.
Schwaner had game-highs in ground balls (6) and draw controls (5), while sharing the team-lead in caused turnovers (5) with Johanna Currier. Jessica Deedon contributed four draws and four caused turnovers. In goal, Courtney Kendall and Lauryn Huck split the time, making one and five saves, respectively.
For Salve Regina, Gina Tortorici (Deer Park, N.Y.) accounted for half (3) of the offense and collected three draws. Katherine Miele (North Reading, Mass.) registered a pair of assists, and Mary-Ashley Donelan (Upton, Mass.) had a match-best six caused turnovers. Katie Jones (Derry, N.H.) posted 11 stops between the pipes.
UNE raced out to a 5-0 cushion (with 5 different scorers) through 12 minutes of action, but four goals by the Seahawks in a span of 2:51 cut the margin to 6-4. The hosts upped the edge slightly (8-5) by the break.
Within the initial 10 minutes of the 2nd period, Big Blue had pushed the spread to 12-5. The Nor'easters finished with a 34-22 advantage in shots.
On Tuesday, UNE heads for Curry College (1-4 CCC) and Salve Regina returns home to face Wentworth Institute of Technology (0-6 CCC).