BOSTON, Mass. - Junior Kaitlin Gillespie (Haddam, Conn.) and senior Katherine Miele (North Reading, Mass.) combined for seven of Salve Regina's 16 goals as the Seahawks took the Commonwealth Coast Conference victory, 16-6, over the Wentworth Institute of Technology women's lacrosse team on Saturday afternoon at Sweeney Field.
With the win, Salve Regina improves to 4-10 (2-6), while Wentworth falls to 2-13 (0-7).
Senior Abigail Tepper's (Foxboro, Mass.) marker just five minutes into the first half at 25:21 gave Salve Regina a quick 1-0 lead, however, the lead was short-lived as senior Pam Mudge (Hooksett, N.H.) got Wentworth on the board to even the score 1-all at 22:55. Twenty-three seconds after Mudge put Wentworth on the board, freshman Brooke Paradis (Pelham, N.H.) tallied the go-ahead to put the Leopards up 2-1. Freshman Lindsey Smith (North Attleboro, Mass.) evened up the score for the Seahawks at 21:27 and was followed up by back-to-back goals from junior Courtney Moulton (Merrimack, N.H.) to give Salve Regina the 4-2 lead. Wentworth made the game 4-4 at 12:31 on a goal by junior Amanda Dexter (Harvard, Mass.), but Salve Regina scored three goals over the next eight minutes to regain the 7-4 edge. Paradis' second marker of the half brought the Leopards within two at 1:20, but sophomore Caroline Woessner (West Simsbury, Conn.) tallied the final Seahawks goal of the half with 48 ticks left to take an 8-5 lead into the second half.
Nine seconds into the second half, Tepper put Salve Regina's ninth goal in the back of the net to take the 9-5 lead. After a goal by Gillespie at 20:43 stretched Salve Regina's lead to five at 10-5, the Seahawks started to pull away with four consecutive goals over the next four minutes gave them the nine goal cushion at 14-5. Miele and Gillespie tallied the next Seahawks' markers to give them an extensive 16-5 lead with five minutes remaining in the second. At 1:55, Paradis scored the first Wentworth goal since 1:20 of the first half to bring the score to 16-6 as the game ended with Salve Regina taking the 16-6 win.
Along with Gillespie and Miele, Tepper and Smith also tallied two goals each. Gillespie had two assists and scooped up four ground balls, while junior Jacqueline Pilatti (South Windsor, Conn.) also scooped up four ground balls and had four caused turnovers and Smith had three draw control wins. Senior Katie Jones (Derry, N.H.) had 11 saves through 60 minutes.
Paradis led the Leopards with three goals, one assists scooped up three ground balls and had two draw control wins, while Dexter had one goal, three ground balls, three draw control wins and one caused turnover. Senior Hayley Patton (Cranston, R.I.) had 16 saves and scooped up three ground balls.
Salve Regina held the 13-11 draw control advantage, as well as shots (42-22) and ground balls (31-18). The Seahawks went 3-for-5 in free position shots while Wentworth went 1-for-5.
Wentworth concludes its regular season as it heads to Nichols on Tuesday at 4:00 p.m., while Salve Regina heads to UMass Dartmouth on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.
