Late Run Helps #10 Dowling Hold off Bentley

WALTHAM, Mass. – The Dowling Golden Lions scored four unanswered goals late in the game, enabling them to hold off a second half rally from Bentley and take a 13-9 victory Sunday afternoon in non-conference women's lacrosse.

The Falcons trailed 7-1 at one point in the second half, but mounted a rally and got to within 9-8 with 6:36 remaining after Megan Wiggins' (Acton, Mass./Acton-Boxborough) fourth goal of the game.

The Golden Lions though took over down the stretch. Nicolle Moran netted the fourth of her five goals unassisted with 5:54 left, then Kelly Cefalu scored back-to-back goals to give Dowling a 12-8 lead with 3:35 to play. Moran tallied her fifth of the afternoon with 2:38 remaining give the visitors a five-goal lead.

A low-scoring first half resulted in a 5-1 lead for Dowling halftime, with Moran scoring twice. Dowling extended its lead to 7-1 with a pair of free-position goals from Samantha Stavish and Shannon Asquino in the first 1:56 of the second half.

A goal by Wiggins about five minutes later started Bentley's charge, as they scored seven of the next nine goals. Sophomore Cori Geiger (Agawam, Mass./Agawam), who along with Moran had a game-high five goals, exploded during the run.

She had consecutive goals less than three minutes apart to make the score 8-5. After Dowling's Cassandra Cronin scored, Geiger netted two more goals just 47 seconds apart to make the score 9-7 with 9:59 to go.

Sophomore goalie Julia Powell (Southbury, Conn./Pomperaug) made nine saves for the Falcons, while Dowling's Rachael Goldstein stopped six shots for the win.

Bentley, now 1-3 on the season, returns to the field Wednesday night at Northeast-10 rival Franklin Pierce.

2011-03-20