Sharks stun Seahawks in final seconds

BOSTON, Mass. – Sophomore attacker Kasey Fries (Bridgewater, Mass.) netted three of her five goals in the final 10 minutes to lead the Simmons College women's lacrosse team's comeback win over visiting Salve Regina University, 12-11, this evening at Winsor Field in Boston, Mass. The Sharks improve to 2-2 on the season, while the Seahawks fall to 1-3. 

Simmons scored five of the final six goals of the match to come away with the victory.

Fries added an assist to her career-high five goals to go with three ground balls for the Sharks. First year midfielder Elena Bragg (Belmont, Mass.) tallied five points, including three goals and added four ground balls, a pair of caused turnovers and a draw control. Senior midfielder Ashley Sheehan (North Attleboro, Mass.) controlled the draw for Simmons, winning a career-best nine draw controls, while scoring a pair of goals and picking up a ground ball.

First year goalie Kenzie Rogers (Bourne, Mass.) earned the victory with eight saves for the Sharks.

Senior midfielder Abigail Tepper (Foxboro, Mass.) scored five goals to lead Salve Regina in addition to a ground ball and a caused turnover, while sophomore middie Brianna Wilcox (Somers, Conn.) and junior attacker Kaitlin Gillespie (Haddam, Conn.) each tallied a pair of goals and two ground balls.

Senior goalie Katie Jones (Derry, N.H.) turned away six shots for the Seahawks.

Gillespie netted her sixth goal of the season to give Salve Regina a 10-7 lead with 24:23 left in the second half, but the Simmons defense held the visitors scoreless over the next 18-plus minutes, while it reeled off four unanswered goals. First year midfielder Analise Giarrusso (Hingham, Mass.) scored just 52 seconds later to cut the deficit to 10-8 for the Sharks. Bragg scored with a player advantage at 10:58 and Fries followed just 39 seconds later to knot the score at 10-10 for Simmons. Fries struck again 66 seconds later to give Simmons its first lead since early in the first half, but Tepper found the back of the net on an assist from Wilcox for her team-leading 10^th goal of the season at 6:07 to pull the Seahawks even at 11-11.

The Sharks gained possession for the final two-plus minutes and managed to hold onto the ball until Fries scored with 25 ticks left on the clock to give the home team a 12-11 lead for the win.

The teams traded the first 10 goals of the contest for five ties and a pair of lead changes to put the score at 5-5 with 11:40 left in the first half. Junior attacker Courtney Moulton (Merrimack, N.H.) scored her fourth goal of the season for Salve Regina at the 8:01 mark, before Tepper netted a pair of goals to give the Seahawks their largest lead of the match at 8-5 with 3:52 to play in the stanza. Fries cut the margin to two with a goal coming with 16 seconds left in the opening period to make it 8-6.

Tepper and Sheehan traded goals in the opening five minutes of the second half, before Simmons started its comeback.

The Sharks will be in action again on Saturday, March 19 when they host Massachusetts Maritime Academy at 3:00 p.m. on Winsor Field, while Salve Regina hosts Bridgewater State University on March 18 at 7:00 p.m.