Pat Longobardi, Sports Writer:
Senior Meghan Smith scored nine goals leading Saint Anselm College over Southern women’s lacrosse, 23-6, on Senior Day, in a Northeast-10 Conference game April 23 at Jess Dow Field.
Southern honored three seniors, attacker Jessica Kraszewski, defenseman Lauren Horner and Marissa
Ryan, prior to the game.
“This was a big time win,” said Saint Anselm head coach, Holly Drown. “This is our first two- game winning streak. We carried over momentum and it is exciting.”
On a cold and rainy day, Smith was not distracted, scoring Saint Anselm’s first three goals and five of their first six.
Southern made it 3-1 when junior Elaina Heiple scored on a free-position shot at 23:36.
Smith scored her fifth goal, making it 6-1, at 18:58, off of her own draw control, running to the front of the net.
Saint Anselm then made it 7-1 on a great defensive play when Senior Kristen Vassalotti forced a turnover on goalie Jessica Shaw, then passed it easily to sophomore Carrie Brophy for the goal.
Saint Anselm made it 13-3 with six straight goals. Southern gained momentum, scoring three straight goals, two from Heiple and one from Ryan, making it 13-5 with 2:42 remaining in the half.
“We’ve worked on draw controls, and did a decent job,” said Southern head coach, Kelley Frassinelli. “It was yet another game of turnovers.”
Saint Anselm won on draw-controls, 19-12. Saint Anselm led, 13-5, at halftime.
Smith scored the first second half goal, her seventh, on a free-position shot at 27:08, making it 14-5.
Southern missed many opportunities to possibly score with either a turnover, or a save and had two consecutive free-position shots, only to be saved at the net.
Saint Anselm scored six straight goals, leading 20-5. Smith left the game after her ninth goal at 15:20, scoring after a 20 plus yards pass from Brophy.
“We are just really happy and it is exciting,” said Drown. “A lot of people stepped up.”
Kraszewski scored Southern’s final goal at 7:36, unassisted, making it 20-6.
“We were able to get penetration and get good shots,” said Frassinelli. “We played solid defense, interfering and denying the pass.”
Smith was Saint Anselm’s leading scorer with nine points overall, scoring nine goals on 10 shots, with eight draw controls. Junior Shawna Walsh had three points, scoring two goals on five shots, with one assist. Five other players tallied two goals each.
Heiple and Ryan led Southern with three points each overall. Heiple scored three goals on five shots, with five turnovers and seven draw controls. Ryan scored two goals on three shots, with one assist and seven ground balls. Kraszewski scored one goal on five shots.
Southern’s goalie, sophomore Jessica Shaw, made six saves, allowing 17 goals in 42:32. Sophomore Colleen Gore made two saves, allowing six goals in 17:28. Saint Anselm’s senior goalie, Katherine O’Hara, made four saves, allowing five goals in 43:01. Freshman Katherine Amato made two saves, allowing one goal in 16:59.
Southern had 26 fouls, 14 in the first half. Saint Anselm, had 15 fouls. Southern (30) and Saint Anselm (27) combined for 57 turnovers in the game. Saint Anselm out-shot Southern, 40-16, in the game.
There was one penalty in the game. Saint Anselm’s sophomore, Meghan Schilling, received a yellow card in the beginning of the second half at 29:44 for an upper body hit to Heiple.
Saint Anselm moved to 4-8 overall, and 4-6 in conference. Southern moved to 0-13, 0-11. Southern’s final regular season game is April 29 at Bentley University.
