WALTHAM, Mass. – Sophomore Kelly Cefalu scored a game-high seven goals to lead No. 9 Dowling to a 19-10 win over Bentley University Sunday afternoon in non-conference women's lacrosse play. Dowling improves to 4-1 on the year while Bentley drops to 3-5. Senior Alyssa Ritchie (North Andover, Mass./North Andover) and freshman Torre Taylor (Locust Valley, N.Y./Friends Academy) each had a hat trick for the Falcons.

Bentley trailed the entire game, but got to within four goals at 13-9 with 14:55 left in the game after Taylor scored her third of the game and second in a row.

Dowling though responded with two straight tallies, with both coming off the stick of Cefalu. The second gave the Golden Lions a 15-9 lead with 10:46 to play.

Ritchie made it 15-10 with her third goal of the game with 6:26 remaining, but that's the last time Bentley would score as Dowling netted the final four goals of the contest to pull away for the win.

The Falcons dug themselves an early hole, falling behind 5-0 just past the 10 minute mark and they trailed 10-3 at halftime. Dowling took advantage of six yellow card penalties on Bentley in the first half, which resulted in seven man-up goals. They also went 4-7 on their free-position shots.

The Falcons though cut down on the penalties in the second half and got back in the game. After a goal by Lauren Marra gave the Golden Lions a 12-3 lead, Bentley reeled off four straight to cut its deficit to 12-7 with 17:27 left. Freshman Olivia Bouchard (Warwick, R.I./Loomis-Chafee) had both of her goals during the run, and Ritchie and Taylor had the other two.

Marra though scored another goal to break up the run and make the score 13-7 before Taylor's two straight goals.

Bentley will next go on a two-game non-conference swing through Long Island. The first game of the trip is against Molloy in Rockville Centre, N.Y., on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m.

2009-03-29