BRISTOL, R.I. – Ryleigh Cavanaugh (Manchester, N.H.) and Mandy Beck (Old Saybrook, Conn.) tallied a season-high five goals each for the reigning Commonwealth Coast Conference Champion Roger Williams University Women's Lacrosse team as they picked up right where they left off, rolling Gordon College, 23-2 in their conference opener on Friday evening at Bayside Field. The Hawks dominated possession from wire-to-wire, outshooting the Fighting Scots, 40-3 while causing 28 turnovers.
 
With the win, RWU improves to 6-1 on the year while picking up their seventh consecutive win in regular season conference play dating back to 2019. Gordon on the other hand, falls to 5-2 overall, opening their conference slate at 0-1.
 
The three shots against the Hawks in the contest is the fewest since allowing Nichols College a mere one shot on April 24, 2019. Meanwhile, their offensive onslaught of 40 shots is the most they have attempted since taking the same number against the University of New England on May 1, 2018.
 
Hannah Goodwin (Bradford, Mass.) only played the first half of this one for Roger Williams and while she allowed a goal on the lone shot in her direction, she only faced that one shot and earned the win to improve to 6-1. Janelle Maxwell (Cincinnati, Ohio) got the nod for the visitors and was under duress the entire way, facing 37 shots on goal, allowing 23 goals despite 14 saves. She took the loss falling to 2-1 as a result.
 
Hawk Highlights
Mandy Beck: 5 goals, 3 ground balls, 1 caused turnover, 1 draw control
Ryleigh Cavanaugh: 5 goals, 2 ground balls, 1 caused turnover, 2 draw controls
Lily Cunningham: 3 goals, 2 assists, 2 ground balls, 1 caused turnover, 3 draw controls
Devon Sarazin: 3 goals, 2 assists, 1 caused turnover
 
Hannah Goodwin: 0 saves, 1 goal allowed, 30:00 minutes in goal
Caroline Roach: 0 saves, 1 goal allowed, 30:00 minutes in goal
 
For The Opponents
Kaitlyn Mini: 1 goal, 1 ground ball, 1 draw control
Abigail Mansfield: 1 goal, 1 ground ball, 1 draw control
Mikayla Lecci: 1 assist, 1 caused turnover, 2 draw controls
Emma Darling: 3 ground balls, 2 caused turnovers
 
Janelle Maxwell: 14 saves, 23 goals allowed, 3 ground balls, 60:00 minutes in goal
 
How It Happened
Gordon College actually opened the scoring in this one as Abigail Mansfield (Starksboro, Vt.) got a pick at the top of the arch and turned the corner rifling a shot into the bottom left corner of the net. The assist was awarded to Mikayla Lecci (Yaphank, N.Y.) and the Fighting Scots had the advantage less than two minutes in but as it turned out, the goal was just a wake-up call for RWU. They responded by matching their season-high for goals in a quarter netting nine unanswered. Karli Chapin (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) got the party started with a score into the upper left 90 off a good feed by Devon Sarazin (Falmouth, Maine). Ella Waryas (Foxboro, Mass.) gave the hosts the advantage with a free-position tally and that's when things really got out of hand. In the span of less than 150 seconds, RWU piled up five goals. Ryleigh Cavanaugh (Manchester, N.H.) got two within a span of 20 seconds, Sarazin got her first goal of the game and then Lily Cunningham (Melrose, Mass.) got a free-position score making the lead five less than six minutes in. After a bit of a scoring hiatus Cunningham netted her second-straight goal at 4:08. That was followed by a Mandy Beck (Old Saybrook, Conn.) tally before Sarazin beat the horn with a goal with one second remaining in the frame, making the lead 9-1. While RWU was busy piling up the goals, Gordon only got the ball onto their offensive half of the field three time after their game-opening score.
 
Cavanaugh and Beck traded the next four goals scored for Roger Williams as they piled it on and got the game into running clock in the second period. Danielle Anastasia (Walpole, Mass.) got in on the fun with her first goal since her freshman campaign at the 3:20 mark then Cunningham scored goal number-15, matching the team's season-best mark for goals in a half, on a free-position attempt with 48 seconds remaining.
 
The only real change in the second half was a change in net as RWU deployed Caroline Roach (Acton, Mass.) to make her collegiate debut. Besides that, the Hawks just kept scoring. Beck and Sarazin each added yet another goal then Julia Kelley (Foxborough, Mass.) got her sixth of the campaign. Kaitlyn Mini (Malden, Mass.) finally snapped RWU's streak of 18-unanswered goals with about four and a half remaining but it barely made a dent.
 
In the fourth, Beck got things going with her fifth score of the game then Cavanaugh matched her scoring output two goals later. Sandwiched in between was Waryas' second tally of the game in her first career start. Mia Pantano (Reading, Mass.) notched her first-career goal at the 4:43 mark before Campbell Haller (Nashua, N.H.) wrapped up the scoring with her fourth goal of the spring, making the score 23-2.
 
The Hawks dominated in every category in the contest as they set or matched their season-highs in shots, shots on goal, turnovers forced, ground balls, and draw controls while they held the Fighting Scots under a 50% success rate on clear attempts.
 
What's Next
Roger Williams (5-1): Wednesday, March 30 at Salve Regina @ 4:30pm
Gordon (5-1): Wednesday, March 30 at Nichols @ 4:00pm