Murphy leads Chargers over Seahawks, 15-14
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. - Sophomore Brittney Murphy (Woburn, Mass.) scored six goals and added three assists to lead the Colby-Sawyer College women's lacrosse team to a 15-14 win over Salve Regina University in The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC) action Saturday afternoon at Gaudet Field.
Sophomore Lyndsay French (Ipswich, Mass.) added three goals and a pair of helpers for the Chargers, who improved to 2-3 on the season and 1-0 in TCCC. Freshman Kelly Burke (Georgetown, Mass.) scored five goals for the Seahawks (0-3), who fell to 0-1 in the conference.
The two teams played a fairly even first half as the Chargers took an 8-6 lead into the intermission. Murphy potted three goals to lead Colby-Sawyer while Burke found the back of the net four times to lead Salve Regina. Neither team held more than a one-goal lead until French's second of the game with 26 ticks left in the half put the Chargers in front by two. The Seahawks outshot the Chargers 17-16 in the opening stanza , but the Colby-Sawyer defense caused breakout problems for the Seahawks as they converted only six of their 16 clearing attempts.
The Seahawks opened the second half with five-straight goals – two of which came off the stick of sophomore Sarah Livingston (Westford, Mass.) – to take an 11-8 lead with 20:31 left. The Chargers answered with five goals of their own, led by two goals and two assists from Murphy. Freshman Laurel Bauer (Bradford, N.H.) closed the run with her first of the game at 5:55 to give Colby-Sawyer a 13-11 lead. Livingston answered with her fourth of the game at 3:47, but goals by Bauer at 3:20 and Murphy at 1:55 put the Chargers back up three (15-12) with 1:55 remaining. The Seahawks made a furious rally late, getting goals by junior Nicole Viola (Scarborough, Maine) at 1:14 and senior Sarah Baker (Summit, N.J.) at :54 seconds to cut the deficit to one, but the Chargers took possession off the ensuing draw control and ran the clock out.
"It was a game of momentum changes," said Seahawks head coach Jen Eldridge. "We started pulling away in the second half, but we didn't play smart defense. We let up a bit. It was a very good team effort, but our own mistakes hurt us."
The Chargers outshot the Seahawks 38-30 on the afternoon and held a 15-13 edge in ground balls. The Seahawks forced 27 turnovers, however they failed to convert on all nine of their free position chances.
Freshman Ekta Sampson (Hyde Park, Vt.) made eight saves for the Chargers while sophomore Natalie Balletta (Leominster, Mass.) made 12 saves for Salve Regina. Livingston finished the afternoon with four goals for SRU while Baker potted three goals and added three assists. For the Chargers, Bauer tallied three points (1-2-3).
The Seahawks return to action on Monday when they host Emerson at 6 p.m. at Gaudet Field. The Chargers host the University of New England Tuesday evening at 7 p.m.