St. Mary's City, MD – Freshman attacker Kelsey Branch (Jarrettsville, MD/North Harford) had a career day for the St. Mary's (Md.) College women's lacrosse team in the No. 19 Seahawks' 17-6 non-conference victory over Southern Maine Monday afternoon at Seahawk Stadium. Branch tallied a season-high six points on three goals and three assists. The three goals were the first of Branch's career.

The first half was played tight as neither team ever had a lead greater than two goals. Southern Maine's senior Jenn Landez (Springvale, ME) scored the game's first goal at 28:31. The Seahawks (4-4) responded with three straight goals to post a 3-1 advantage at 19:08. Freshman Jessica Knight (Alfred, ME) and senior Sarah Trent (Chanhassen, ME) tallied the next two goals to knot the game at 3-3 with 13:16 left in the first half. The two squads traded the next pair of scores before St. Mary's fired in back-to-back goals for a 6-4 margin at 1:29. However, Knight connected on her second of the day to pull Southern Maine (0-2) to within 6-5 at halftime.

SMCM dominated the second half as the Seahawks rattled off nine unanswered goals, including a hat trick from sophomore midfielder Lauren Carrier (Crownsville, MD/Old Mill). Senior Virginia Flood (Acton, ME) stopped St. Mary's run as Flood converted a free position shot at 9:38. The Seahawks added two more in the game's final 1:26 for the game's final of 17-6.

Senior midfielder Danielle Miller (Montville, NJ/Montville) netted three goals and two assists for the Seahawks, while freshman midfielder Nora Fallon-Oben (Silver Spring, MD/St. John's College [DC]) finished with two goals and two assists. Knight and Landez each had two goals for the Huskies. St. Mary's out-shot Southern Maine, 49-24, and won the ground ball war 30-19 as Branch and freshman defender Karisa Carroll (Long Island, NY/Ward Melville) each had four loose ball pickups. The Seahawks also claimed 18 of 24 draw controls with Carrier notching a game-high six.

Senior goalie Melissa Puzak (Arnold, MD/Broadneck) earned the win with seven saves, while USM's Katie Quartuccio (Poughkeepsie, NY) turned away 22 Seahawk shots with 11 saves in each half.

2007-03-26