SAINTS SUFFER FIRST HOME LOSS;

FALL TO CONTINENTALS, 18-5

Apr. 4: The St. Lawrence University women’s lacrosse team could not bounce back from a 10-0 Hamilton run that spanned over both halves, as the Saints fell to the No. 7 Continentals 18-5 in Liberty League action Friday afternoon on North Country Field.

The Scarlet and Brown fall to 6-3 overall and 1-2 in the conference with the loss, while the nationally-ranked Continentals improve to 6-1 and earn their first Liberty League win of the season. Hamilton will face Clarkson Saturday to end their trip to the North Country, with the game taking place at SUNY Potsdam at 3:30pm.

Scoring for the Saints was first-year Kim Morse (Peaks Island, ME/Yarmouth Academy), senior co-captain Alanna Waters (Darien, CT/Taft), sophomore Mary Jane Sweetland (Hopewell, NJ/Stuart Country Day), and junior Amanda Forbes (Glens Falls, NY/Glens Falls), while Waters and senior co-captain Liz Skinner (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) each added an assist.

Both teams were able to take advantage of their first draw control wins, as Morse found her way to Hamilton’s net just 28 seconds into the contest. A goal from Hamilton’s Nicole Tetreault 18 seconds later tied the game with a goal a piece. Hamilton took the lead just under three minutes later after a shot from Kaillie Briscoe found its way past Saints’ first-year goalie Anna Marchand ( Concord, MA/Middlesex) and into the back of the net for a 2-1 edge.

A strong defensive effort from the Saints kept the No. 7 Continentals off the scoreboard for nearly nine minutes until Hamilton’s Jen McGowan scored her first of the contest, to give the visiting team enough momentum to score five goals, giving them a comfy 8-1 lead.

Waters’ goals came with 7:42 remaining in the first, as she blasted the ball past Hamilton goalie Kate Fowler. Two goals from Briscoe’s stick triggered a 4-0 Continental run at the end of the first to close out the half with a score of 12-2 in favor of Hamilton.

The visiting team’s energy extended well into the second half, as the Continentals scored six unanswered goals to give them a sizeable 18-2 lead with just under 14 minutes to play. St. Lawrence was able to fight past what seemed to be an unsolvable Hamilton defense in the final minutes of the contest and score three goals, two from Sweetland and one from Forbes off a free-position, to end the game with a final score of 18-5.

Marchand had 12 saves, tying her career-high, while Fowler tallied four.

“ Hamilton is a very strong team and we did not hold up well to their defensive pressure,” said Saints’ Head Coach Jodi Canfield. “Our defense played a good game--holding when Hamilton was in their settled offense--and was able to get some turnovers off of that. But, we couldn’t capitalize off those turnover opportunities.”

“We’ll look to execute better under pressure and improve upon our transition game against Rochester tomorrow,” she said.

St. Lawrence will host another familiar face in Liberty League opponent Rochester on Saturday, April 5, with the game set to begin at 1:00pm on North Country Field.