Box Score BRISTOL, R.I. – The Roger Williams University Women's Lacrosse team won their Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) opener 20-12 over Nichols College. The Hawks improve to 3-4 overall and 1-0 in the CCC while the Bison drop to 2-5 and 0-1 in the CCC.
The Hawks capitalized on a pair of four goal runs to build a comfortable first half lead. Devin Machette (Norwalk, Conn.) opened the scoring on an unassisted goal for the Hawks. Stephanie Mathewson (Simsbury, Conn.) and Sam MacMillan (Bridgewater, Mass.) answered with goals to give the Bison the early 2-1 lead.
The Hawks first scoring run that saw four players score one goal each. Machette added her second of the day and Danielle Neagle (Avon, Conn.), Kelsey Rahilly (E. Longmeadow, Mass.), and Lauren Piotrowski (Wakefield, Mass.) each scored their first of the contest to give the Hawks the 5-2 edge. Alyssa Bufis (Linden, N.J.) scored the next two goals for the Bison at 19:45 and 16:25. The Hawks Kristen Pingree (Georgetown, Mass.) split the Bufis goals with her first and Grace Murphy chipped in for the Bison at 13:42.
The Hawks closed the first half with their second four goal run to take a comfortable 10-5 lead. Neagle added her second and third of the day and Pingree netted her second before Samantha Davenport (Bethel, Conn.) concluded the run with her first mark of the evening.
The team traded goals for most of the second with only one unanswered three goal run in the half. Catherine Smeykal (Collegville, Pa.) opened the scoring in the second half at 29:12 to give the Hawks a goal lead and Rahilly added second of the evening to push the lead to seven. Murphy broke through for her second for the Bison at 24:01 and Makenzie Logan (Sussex, N.J.) answered sixteen seconds later for the Hawks. MacMillan and Davenport traded goals for their respective teams before Murphy added her second mark of the half.
Neagle, Jessica Searl (Glastonbury, Conn.), and Machette scored the next three goal to put the Hawks up 17-8. Bufis poured two more goals in for the Bison at 11:47 and 9:38 for the Bison. Logan found the net for RWU and her second of the game at 11:45. Erica Antonison (Albertson, N.Y.) and Murphy each scored one more time and Pingree put two more on net for the Hawks coming down the stretch.
The Hawks held advantages in shots, ground balls but Nichols tallied more saves. AnneMarie Fana (Lawrence, Mass.)stopped eight shots in the loss and the Hawk's Justine Sullivan recorded seven saves in the win.
The Bison head to Wentworth to take on the Leopards on March 30th at 11:00 a.m. in Boston,
The Hawks travel to Biddeford, Maine to take on the University of New England on March 30th at 12:00 p.m.
