NEW LONDON, N.H. – The Saint Joseph's College women's lacrosse team (17-0, 13-0 GNAC) capped the regular season with an unblemished record after defeating Colby-Sawyer College (11-5, 8-5 GNAC), 14-8, in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action on Tuesday evening.

The perfect regular season is the first in the program's 15-year history and first for Saint Joseph's overall since the SJC women's basketball team headed into the postseason with a 25-0 record in 2019.

PLAYOFF IMPLICATIONS:

With the triumph, the Monks capture the top seed in the GNAC Tournament, which begins on Saturday with a quarterfinal round, and have earned the right to host throughout the playoffs. The complete tournament bracket will be announced later this week after all league games are in the books.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

As has been the case in most games this spring, the Monks jumped out to an insurmountable lead and held an 8-1 advantage going into intermission. Freshman Brianna Paul (Brattleboro, Vt.) scored 26 seconds into the third quarter to lift the visitors to a 9-1 lead.

The game was far from over however as the Chargers' halftime adjustments began to take hold, with the hosts netting six of the subsequent eight goals to cut the SJC lead down to 11-7 1:26 left in the third period.

Lydia Dexter (Oakland, Maine) proceeded to take matters into her own hands, as the grad student standout scored three unanswered goals over the following eight minutes of play to put her team on top, 14-7, with 7:07 left. The Monks' defense managed ice the victory by holding the Colby-Sawyer offense to just one goal on five shots in the fourth frame.

TEAM STATS:

Saint Joseph's held the lead in shots (26-23), shots on goal (20-14) and ground balls (23-13) while Colby-Sawyer maintained a 19-6 lead in draw controls.

THE KEEPERS:

SJC freshman netminder Morgan Wright (Chelmsford, Mass.) and Colby-Sawyer goalie AJ Paton made six saves apiece in the regular season finale.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:

• Dexter scored eight goals with three ground balls
• Sophomore Carson Battaglia (Gorham, Maine) scored twice with three ground balls and three draw controls
• Paul and sophomore Bridget Collins (Milford, Conn.) tallied a goal and an assist apiece
• Sophomore Megan Mourmouras (Biddeford, Maine) added a goal and four ground balls

LEADERS – COLBY-SAWYER:

• Hannah Marquis tallied three goals and an assist with two ground balls
• Sydney Stevens scored twice
• Sophia Kuhlthau recorded a goal, an assist, two ground balls, and four draw controls
• Heather Hanson contributed a goal, three assists, three ground balls, seven draw controls, and two caused turnovers

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

With the win Saint Joseph's improves to 2-0 all-time versus Colby-Sawyer College, a team the Monks clipped by an 8-7 score in the last meeting with the Chargers, which was played in Standish on March 13th, 2019.

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