UMass-Dartmouth Edges Southern Maine in LEC Tourney

NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. -- Freshman Allison O'Rourke (Weymouth, Mass.) scored a pair of second-half goals as the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's women's lacrosse team held off the University of Southern Maine, 12-11, in a first round Little East Conference playoff match at Cressy Field Tuesday.

The win moves the fourth-seeded Corsairs into a semifinal game Thursday at top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University. The Corsairs are now 6-10 overall. The Huskies, who dropped their second straight heartbreaker, finished the season at 6-10.

O'Rourke scored at 11:49 of the second half, just 3:05 after Corsairs' junior Gillian Carey (Waltham, Mass.) broke a 9-9 tie and gave UMD the lead for good with 14:24 remaining.

Senior Caitlin Albert (Scarborough, Maine) followed with a goal at 10:46 to cut the lead to 11-10 before O'Rourke scored at 9:34 to restore UMass Dartmouth's two-goal advantage. Sophomore Mary Vaughan (Brunswick, Maine/Pomfret) scored two minutes later to make it 12-11. The Huskies pressed for the equalizer, but the Corsairs kept them off the scoreboard.

Sophomore midfielder Rachel Carlucci (Franklin, Mass.) scored three first-half goals as UMass Dartmouth erased an early 2-1 deficit and took a 5-2 lead. USM scored the final three goals of the first half, with junior Jessica Knight (Alfred, Maine/Massabesic) scoring twice to tie the game.

Neither team led by more than two goals in the second half, with Knight tying the game for the last time at 9-9 with 15:32 remaining.

Carlucci and O'Rourke led the Corsairs with four goals apiece. Knight had four goals for the Huskies, Vaughan netted three, and sophomore Jessica Martineau (Auburn, Maine/Yarmouth HS) added two.

Southern Maine out shot UMass Dartmouth, 29-25. Junior goalkeeper Liz Miller (Littleton, Mass./Westford Academy) of the Corsairs and USM sophomore goalie Rachel Lolley (Gorham, Maine) each made 10 saves.

2009-04-28