COLCHESTER, Vt. – Senior Amanda Soule (Hartland, Vt.) scored three of the final four goals for Saint Michael's, including the game-winner with 1:33 left in overtime, to lift the Purple Knights to a 16-15 win over Bentley in Northeast-10 Conference women's lacrosse action on Saturday afternoon at Duffy Field. Saint Michael's gained a stronghold on fifth place with a 5-3 conference mark and improved to 7-4 overall, while the Falcons fell to 5-8 overall and 4-4 in NE-10 play.

The Purple Knights' scoring attack was led by junior Kim Berlo (Scituate, Mass.) with seven points on three goals and four assists. Senior Brynne Curran (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) tallied four goals on the afternoon, three of which came consecutively to open up the second half. Senior goalkeeper Courtney Wakem (Tiverton, R.I.) recorded a season-high 13 saves in her seventh win of the year.

For Bentley, sophomore Jaclyn Griffin (Barrington, Ill./Barrington HS) tallied seven points with six goals and one assist to lead the Falcons' offense. Junior All-America Alyssa Ritchie (North Andover, Mass./North Andover HS) also chipped in two goals and two assists, while sophomore goalkeeper Christina Guglielmo (Fair Haven, N.J./Rumson-Fair Haven HS) stopped nine shots in net.

Griffin hit a free position shot to tie the game with 3:55 to go, but Soule answered with an eight-meter of her own to put the Purple Knights up by one with 1:44 on the clock. Senior Bridget Fitzgerald (Winchester, Mass./Winchester HS) scored with 34 seconds left to force overtime.

When the overtime session opened, Ritchie was the only player to score in the first segment, but in the second segment, Amanda Pelley scored 42 seconds in for Saint Michael's and Soule netted the game-winner with 1:33 to go.

The Purple Knights jumped out to an early lead with three goals to open the game, but the Falcons came back with three of their own with senior Beth Gendron (Tyngsboro/Tyngsboro HS) tallying the equalizer just before the midway point of the first half. The game stayed that close throughout, trading goals until Griffin gave Bentley a 7-6 halftime lead. The Falcons took a 10-7 lead early in the second half, but Curran scored three of the next four goals and Lauren Rizzotti tied the game at 11 with 17:57 to go.

Bentley is back in action on Tuesday, returning home to host Franklin Pierce at 7:00 p.m.

2008-04-19