SAINTS DEFEAT MT. HOLYOKE 17-11 AT SPRING FLING

Mar. 17: The St. Lawrence women’s lacrosse team didn’t need a four-leaf clover this St. Patrick’s Day, as the Saints were able to capitalize on their strong transition play to earn their first win of their 2008 campaign, defeating non-conference opponent Mt. Holyoke 17-11 at the 2008 Spring Fling at Lake Lytal Park in West Palm Beach, Florida.

The Saints, who never relinquished the lead throughout the entire 60 minutes of play, improve to 1-1 overall with the win, while the Lions fell 1-3 in their season.

Sophomore Mary Jane Sweetland (Hopewell, NJ/Stuart Country Day) opened up the scoring efforts for St. Lawrence with two goals within the first 2:25 of the contest, assisted by senior co-captains Liz Skinner (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) and Alanna Waters (Darien, CT/The Taft School), respectively.  First-year Kaitlyn Fahsel (Watertown, NY/South Jefferson), who was named Liberty League Co-Rookie of the Week after Friday’s performance at Nazareth, drove the ball to the net to score the Saints’ third, while junior Amanda Forbes (Glens Falls, NY/Glens Falls), who led the Saints in scoring in 2007, pushed St. Lawrence to a 4-0 lead after scoring on a free position.

Mt. Holyoke’s Peggy Wefald then contributed three points, scoring two goals and adding an assist, to close the Saints’ lead 4-3 with 18:57 to go in the first.  Less than 45 seconds later, first-year Kim Morse (Peaks Island, ME/North Yarmouth Academy) would begin what would be an outstanding offensive game with a shot in between the posts off a touch from Waters to give the Saints a 5-3 edge.

Waters and Morse tallied one a piece before Mt. Holyoke was able find their way to the net again, as Wefald and teammate Ava Gottschall both had a goal in an attempt to close in on St. Lawrence, who was still out ahead 7-3 with 13 minutes left in the half.  Forbes scored two more, in addition to another from Fahsel, while the Lions’ Gottschall tallied her second of the game as the clock winded down, with the Scarlet and Brown ahead 10-6 at halftime.

Wefald and Gottschall each of the last five goals for Mt. Holyoke in the last 30 minutes of play, but it wasn’t enough to push past St. Lawrence, who saw a big second half from Morse, who tallied three goals, and sophomore Katrina Knickerbocker (Clinton Corners, NY/The Gunnery) who had two.  Classmate Julie Wooters (New Canaan, CT/New Canaan) also put the ball between the pipes in the second, while Forbes also earned another goal to give the team a 17-11 victory.  Waters was an integral part in the Saints’ second half, as she assisted three of St. Lawrence’s seven second-period goals.

The Saints held a 37-31 edge in shots, and a 16-13 advantage in groundballs.

Waters led offensively for the Saints with seven points, which included her goal and six assists, while Morse five goals out of her seven shots on net.  Forbes had four goals and the same number in ground balls, a game high, while also causing three turnovers.  Wefald had six goals for the Lions, while Gottschall had four.

First-year Anna Marchand (Concord, MA/Middlesex) had 11 saves inside the crease, while Mt. Holyoke’s keeper Mimi Henry tallied eight.

St. Lawrence will meet Scranton on Wednesday morning as Spring Fling continues.  The draw is scheduled for 9:00am at Lake Lytal Park in West Palm Beach.