Sharks edge Seahawks 11-7

BOSTON, Mass. – Senior attacker Kasey Fries (Bridgewater, Mass.) (four) and first year midfielder Molly Reinhold (Mystic, Conn.) (three) combined for seven goals to lead the Simmons College women's lacrosse team over visiting Salve Regina University, 11-7, tonight at Daly Field in Brighton, Mass. The Sharks improve to 2-0 on the season, while the Seahawks fall to 0-2.

Simmons forced Salve Regina into 25 turnovers and held the Seahawks' clear in check with a 13-27 success rate for the visitors. The Sharks held Salve Regina to four or fewer goals in each half and owned a 36-16 shot advantage for the game.

Fries scored three of her markers on free position opportunities and added three ground balls for Simmons, while Reinhold added a pair of assists to give her five points for the evening in addition to three draw controls, a caused turnover and a ground ball. Junior midfielder Elena Bragg (Belmont, Mass.) was a force on both ends of the field, scoring a goal and adding an assist to go with a game-high seven draw controls and four caused turnovers in addition to four ground balls. Junior attacker Missie Maiewski (Northampton, Mass.) netted a pair of goals and classmate Ana Giarrusso (Hingham, Mass.) scored a goal and picked up three ground balls. Senior goalie Chyenne Yeager (Indiana, Pa.) stopped three shots in the victory for the Sharks.

Senior midfielder Katie Kline (Brookfield, Conn.) found the back of the net twice for the Seahawks and added an assist, four draw controls and three ground balls, while sophomore attacker Maddie Villareal (Portsmouth, R.I.) also tallied three points, including a pair of goals. Junior attacker Olivia Slysz (South Hadley, Mass.), junior midfielder Lindsey Smith (North Attleboro, Mass.) and sophomore midfielder Kiley Anderson (East Greenwich, R.I.) each netted a goal for Salve Regina. Sophomore midfielder Gabrielle Majenski (Hanson, Mass.) led all players with five ground balls and also caused a turnover. First year goalie Christina Myers (River Edge, N.J.) registered 18 saves for the visitors.

Villareal scored at the 19:50 mark of the opening half to give the Seahawks a 3-2 edge, but Simmons reeled off seven unanswered goals, including the final six of the half, to take a 9-3 lead, paced by four goals from Fries and two from Reinhold.

Smith scored just 50 seconds after Fries' fourth marker of the night to pull Salve Regina to within 9-4 with 25:25 left in the match, but Bragg scored just 15 seconds later and Maiewski just eight ticks after that to increase the Sharks' cushion to 11-4 with 24:52 showing in the second half. Those were the last two scores of the game for the home team as Kline scored two markers, followed by Anderson's goal with 4:53 remaining in the game to cap the scoring for the Seahawks and cut the deficit to 11-7.

Villareal opened the night's scoring 76 seconds into the match for Salve Regina, before Giarrusso and Reinhold answered for Simmons. Slysz and Villareal countered with a goal each to give the Seahawks their last lead of the match at 3-2.

The Sharks return to action on Saturday, March 3 when they host Smith College on Daly Field at 11:00 a.m., while Salve Regina heads to North Dartmouth, Mass. on March 8 to take on University of Massachusetts Dartmouth for a 4:00 p.m. start.