WALTHAM, Mass. – Sophomore Kristina Wargo (Hicksville, N.Y.) tallied nine points to lift Molloy to a 15-7 win over Bentley in Division II women's college lacrosse action on Friday afternoon at the Bentley lacrosse field. Wargo tallied four goals and five assists for the Lady Lions, who improved to 9-4, while the Falcons fell to 5-7.

Sophomore Kristie Sosnowski (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) netted a hat trick for Molloy and won 11 draw controls, while junior Erin Brady (Long Beach, N.Y.) added a goal and two assists.

The Bentley offense was led by a six-point effort from junior All-America Alyssa Ritchie (North Andover/North Andover HS), who posted three goals and three assists.

The game began on a low-scoring pace after the Lady Lions netted a pair in the first five minutes from Sosnowski and Wargo. The Falcons slowly answered with tallies from sophomore Jaclyn Griffin (Barrington, Ill./Barrington HS) and Ritchie to even the score with 9:46 to go in the first half. Molloy took the lead again with just under five minutes to play before the half on a goal from junior Kristin Lang (Hicksville, N.Y.), but it was a spurt of three goals in the final minute of the first that gave the Lady Lions a comfortable lead they never relinquished. Sophomore Rebecca LaFlare (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) converted on a free position shot with a minute to go, then Wargo added another before Kerianne Stiene (Franklin Square, N.Y.) ripped a shot that found the net with one second on the clock.

Ritchie scored to open the second half, but a string of four unanswered Molloy goals put the game away, with LaFlare scoring the eventual game-winner with 24:35 on the clock. From there, the Lady Lions held off the Falcons, with junior goalkeeper Alicia Frisch (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) making 11 saves in the contest to earn the win.

Bentley got goals down the stretch from seniors Beth Gendron (Tyngsboro/Tyngsboro HS) and Liz Goddard (Acton/Acton-Boxborough HS) and junior Kim White (Glen Head, N.Y./Friends Academy), but the Molloy offense kept pace, helped by a pair of second-half goals by sophomore Lori Sollitto (Wantagh, N.Y.).

Sophomore goalkeeper Christina Guglielmo (Fair Haven, N.J./Rumson-Fair Haven HS) matched her career high with 20 saves in defeat for the Falcons as Molloy held a 48-29 advantage in total shots and a 35-18 lead in shots on goal.

Bentley is back in action on Saturday, traveling to Colchester, Vt., for a 2:00 p.m. matchup against Northeast-10 Conference for Saint Michael's. The Falcons return home on Tuesday to host Franklin Pierce at 7:00 p.m.

2008-04-18