Albany, N.Y. – Senior attacker Alexa Webster scored twice, including the go-ahead goal in the second half, to lead New Hampshire to a 6-4 victory over UAlbany in America East Conference action on Saturday afternoon at John Fallon Field.

New Hampshire (6-5, AE 3-0) built a 4-1 lead at halftime. Sara Von Bargen had a pair of goals in the opening period, including her 20th of the season. Michaela Hardy connected on a free-position opportunity for a 3-0 advantage with 11:29 remaining. Von Bargen found the net with just 2.3 seconds left before the intermission when she curled on the inside and placde a shot into the left side.

UAlbany (5-6, AE 1-1) rallied with three goals in a one-minue-and-57 second span to draw even at four apiece. Kate Fontana, a senior midfielder who added four draw controls and five caused turnovers, tallied back-to-back goals to tie the contest. She first drilled a bounce shot past UNH goalkeeper Natalie Jones in a free-position situation. Fontana then delivered her 23rd of the year by sending a shot inside the left post while driving to the cage.

The Wildcats, who are the preseason favorites to win America East title, responded with two goals over the next five minutes. Webster fired a free-position shot low into the right side of the net to give her team the lead. Sophomore midfielder Beth Sabiston added an insurance goal with 18:03 to play when Ashley Durepo found her in front of the cage. Jones made six of her nine saves in the second half to keep UNH in front.

UAlbany's Kayla Best (Guilderland) added one goal and one assist, while Christine Grueniger added a final-period tally. Goalkeeper Jen Daly stopped nine shots between the pipes.

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ALBANY, N.Y. – Sarah Von Bargen (East Setauket, N.Y.) and Alexa Webster (Aurora, Colo.) both scored two goals and Natalie Jones (Penn Yan, N.Y.) made nine saves to lead the University of New Hampshire women's lacrosse team to Saturday afternoon's 6-4 America East win at University at Albany at John Fallon Field.

UNH improved to 6-5 overall and 3-0 in America East while Albany fell to 5-6, 1-1. The four goals marked the fewest allowed by the Wildcats this season and the six goals tied a season low for the attack, which also featured multiple-point games by Michaela Hardy (Reading, Mass.; 1g, 1a) and Ashley Durepo (Concord, N.H.; 2a).

After two shots on goal and three turnovers in the first four offensive possessions of the game, the ‘Cats took a 1-0 lead at 23:05 on Von Bargen's first tally of the game. Hardy, with a free position on the left wing, passed the ball low to Von Bargen, who curled behind the net around the left post to catch the pass and score.

Webster gave UNH a 2-0 advantage at 17:38 when she cut from the top of the fan to the left wing. Jones made one of her three first-half saves with 12 minutes remaining in the half when she stopped Brittany Scott's low free-position shot to preserve the two-goal lead.

Hardy extended the visitor's lead to 3-0 on a free-position goal at 11:29 when she drove from the top-right wing to the middle and scored on a high shot.

Kayla Best pulled the Great Danes within 3-1 at 8:07 by cutting left-to-right across the fan and firing a shot into the upper-right corner.

Jones preserved UNH's two-goal lead with 1:45 to play when she stopped Christine Gruenger's free-position shot from the top of the fan. The Wildcats then held for one last shot. An errant pass in the closing seconds appeared to spoil UNH's chance to score, but Durepo collected the loose ball outside the top of the fan and fired a pass into traffic in the middle, where Von Bargen executed a catch-and-shoot while falling down to score with 2.3 seconds on the clock and give the ‘Cats a 4-1 halftime lead.

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2007-04-07