WORCESTER, Mass. – Sophomore Meg O'Leary (Longmeadow, Mass.) scored three goals, but the Holy Cross women's lacrosse team fell to Yale, 15-7, on Wednesday afternoon in non-conference action. With the loss, the Crusaders fall to 2-9 overall, while the Bulldogs improve to 3-7 overall.

Freshman Kat Sutton (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) recorded two goals, while senior Calley Benoit (Concord, N.H.) had one goal and one assist for two points, and junior Ali Baird (Wilbraham, Mass.) scored one goal. Junior Katie Gardner (Garden City, N.Y.) and sophomore Annie Boylan (Andover, Mass.) each had one assist.

Yale was led by Jenna Block who had one goal and eight assists for nine points, and Jenn Warden who scored six goals and had one assist for seven points.

O'Leary scored the first goal of the contest off a pass by Gardner to give Holy Cross a 1-0 lead. After Yale scored, O'Leary found the back of the net on a free-position shot for the 2-1 Crusader advantage. Yale then scored five straight goals to move out to a 6-2 lead. But Holy Cross responded with three unanswered goals to make the score 6-5. Sutton and Benoit scored unassisted goals, while Sutton scored her second goal when she scored off an assist by Benoit. Yale closed out the first half with two goals to take an 8-5 lead.

After Yale increased its lead to 9-5, Baird scored off a pass by Boylan to make it a 9-6 contest. After a goal by Yale, O'Leary scored her third goal. Yale then closed out the contest with five goals for the 15-7 final score.

Sophomore goalie Amy Martin (Bloomfield, Mich.) made 12 saves, while Whitney Quackenbush stopped eight shots. Yale outshot the Crusaders, 40-23, while Yale picked up 12 ground balls and Holy Cross had 11. Yale had 13 draw controls and the Crusaders had 10. Each team went 1-6 on free-position shot shots.

The Crusaders return to action on April 4, when they play Patriot League opponent Lehigh at noon. This will also be Senior Day as this will conclude the regular season home schedule.

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WORCESTER, Mass. – The Yale offense needed a jump start after being held under seven goals in four straight games. The Bulldogs got it Wednesday afternoon at Holy Cross, thanks in large part to an eight-assist day from junior attacker Jenna Block that put her two shy of the NCAA single-game record. Senior midfielder Jenn Warden scored six goals, freshman attacker Caroline Crow and sophomore attacker Myra Trivellas got their first career goals, and the Bulldogs came away with a 15-7 win.

Yale (3-7, 0-3 Ivy League) had dropped four in a row since beating UMass 7-4 Mar. 11. During that stretch, the Bulldogs held each opponent below its goals-per-game average, but they scored just 19 goals themselves.

“The defensive unit has been solid all along,” said Anne Phillips, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse. “Today, the offense started to click. Finally we were hitting the cutters and finishing inside. Everybody shared in the scoring. We had struggled to get that piece to work for us.”

The Bulldogs got the opening draw and controlled the ball for the first four minutes of the game, but were unable to take advantage. Two shots by sophomore midfielder Ariana Papier hit the post, and the Bulldogs also had a free position attempt blocked. Amy Martin's save on another Papier shot finally brought the possession to an end, and the Crusaders wound up with the first goal of the game when midfielder Meg O'Leary put one in at 23:24.

Warden got the draw control after that goal, and that quickly led to Crow depositing the first goal of her career to tie the game at 1-1.

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2009-04-01