Baker, Curtin lead Seahawks past Anchorwomen, 15-9
NEWPORT, R.I. - Senior Sarah Baker (Summit, N.J.) scored five goals and dished out four assist to lead the Salve Regina University women's lacrosse team to a 15-9 win over Rhode Island College in non-conference action Thursday afternoon at the Lawrence Avenue field.
Senior Erika Curtin (Huntington, N.Y.) added three goals to give the Seahawks (3-8) their second-straight home won. Sophomore Nicky Drolet (Somersworth, N.H.) tallied a game--igh seven goals for the Anchorwomen, who slipped to 3-5.
Baker opened the scoring 3:50 into the first half, and short-handed markers by freshman Kelly Burke (Georgetown, Mass.) and Baker at 25:28 and 25:06 pushed the SRU lead to 3-0. The two teams traded the next five goals before the Seahawks reeled off the final four of the half to take a 9-3 lead into the break. Drolet scored two of the three Rhode Island College markers while Baker finished the half with four goals and Curtin with two.
In the second half, goals by Curtin at 28:58 and senior Nicole Viola (Scarborough, Maine) at 22:07 increased the Seahawks lead to nine at 11-3, but the Anchorwomen rallied for three of their own - two off the stick of Drolet - to make it an 11-6 contest with 18:22 to go. Following a Salve Regina timeout, goals by Viola, Baker, and sophomore Rebecca Simmons (Averill Park, N.Y.) - who made her first-career start at home - pushed the lead back to eight at 14-6. Drolet scored three of the final four goals of the contest to push her team-leading total to 31.
"The thing is that we do need to play our game, and our turnovers hurt us. Against better opponents and teams that we're going to play in conference the rest of the season, we need to clean things up and possess the ball better."
Viola finished the afternoon with two goals for the Seahawks while sophomore Sarah Livingston (Westford, Mass.) had a goal and an assist and senior Whitney Loeb (Hollis, N.H.) scored her second goal of the season. For RIC, junior Suany Almonte (Warwick, R.I.) and freshman Ashley Appel (Foxboro, Mass.) scored goals while freshmen Haley Lattinville (North Kingstown, R.I.) and Sarah Bolduc (Dover, N.H.) collected a team-high four ground balls each.
The Seahawks outshot the Anchorwomen 30-20 on the afternoon and won 17 of the 26 draw controls but committed 33 turnovers, compared to 27 for the visitors. Sophomore Natalie Balletta (Leominster, Mass.) recorded eight saves to improve to 3-8 on the season while sophomore Jenna Childs (Cranston, R.I.) stopped seven Seahawk shots.
Salve Regina returns to action on Saturday when they travel to Milton, Mass. for a 1:30 contest with Curry. The Anchorwomen travel to Plymouth State for a 1 p.m. contest on Saturday.