April 9, 2011

PORTLAND, ME – Rivier College (7-3, 2-3 GNAC) defeated Saint Joseph's (3-4, 0-4 GNAC) in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) women's lacrosse contest at Deering Memorial Stadium on Saturday night. Monks junior midfielder Amelia Santos (Beverly, MA) tallied three goals in a losing effort.

The Raiders held the lead from wire to wire in the conference tilt and scored three goals in the first six minutes of play to put the Monks on their heels early. Alyssa Marchant '11 (Wakefield, MA) and Cassie Diplock '14 (Augusta, ME) responded with markers to make it a one-goal game, but the visitors received three straight goals from Jessica Amaral and another from Rebecca Wickens before Marchant closed the first half with a tally to make it a 7-3 heading into halftime.

Rivier took full advantage in man-up situations with five such goals in the first 18 minutes of the latter half to put the game away.

For the Monks, Marchant netted two goals and an assist while Diplock and Erika Waterhouse '13 (South Portland, ME) tallied a goal and an assist apiece in the loss. Anneka Adame '14 (San Diego, CA) registered a goal and a whopping 18 draw controls on the night.

Diplock paced the Royal Blue with seven ground balls while Emily Wight '13 (Westbrook, ME) and Rachelle Messuri '14 (Atkinson, NH) scooped up six ground ball each for the Monks.

For the Raiders, Wickens scored a game-high five goals and added six ground balls, Amaral added three goals and seven ground balls and Alyssa Renaud recorded two goals and two assists.

SJC netminder Taylor Allison '12 (Pawtucket, RI) made eight saves between the pipes while Rivier keeper Caleigh Bertolaccini recorded nine stops in the cage.

St. Joe's held advantages in shots (32-30), groundballs (40-30) and draw controls (18-7) in the loss. The Raiders enjoyed better success (17-23) on clear attempts than the Monks (8-19).

Saint Joseph's will play at University of Southern Maine on Tuesday at 4:00 PM.