WALTHAM, Mass. - Senior Kellyn Riccitelli (Cheshire, Conn./Cheshire HS) scored five goals and junior Liz Goddard (Acton/Acton-Boxborough HS) tallied eight points for the Falcons as the Bentley women's lacrosse team advanced to the Northeast-10 Conference Semifinals for the first time since 2003 with a 20-13 win over Saint Michael's in the NE-10 Quarterfinals on Wednesday afternoon. The third-seeded Falcons improved to 10-5 and advance to take on second-seeded Southern New Hampshire on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Stonehill College in Easton. The sixth-seeded Purple Knights ended their season at 7-8.

Bentley jumped out to an early lead and maintained at least a two-goal cushion for the entire game. Three unanswered goals in the first five minutes set the tone as sophomore Alyssa Ritchie (North Andover/North Andover HS) scored first, followed by tallies from freshman Jaclyn Griffin (Barrington, Ill./Barrington HS) and junior Beth Gendron (Tyngsboro/Tyngsboro HS). Saint Michael's got on the board with the first goal from sophomore Brynne Curran (Cape Elizabeth, Maine), but the Falcons outscored the Purple Knights, 11-6, in the opening half.

After sophomore Kim Berlo (Scituate) opened the second with a goal for Saint Michael's, Bentley came back with three straight, capped by the eventual game-winner from junior Leslie Bullis (Falmouth/Falmouth HS) with 25:23 on the clock, and held off the Purple Knights for the remainder of the contest.

Riccitelli tallied one assist along with her five goals to give the Falcons' all-time leading scorer 207 career points. Goddard netted four goals and four assists while Ritchie scored three goals and added four assists to push her season totals to 84 points and 42 assists, both Bentley records. Griffin also scored a hat trick and sophomore Kim Morris (Saratoga Springs, N.Y./Saratoga Springs HS) notched a season-best five points on a goal and four assists.

A trio of Purple Knights put hat tricks on the board to lead Saint Michael's. Berlo, Curran and junior Amanda Soule (Hartland, Vt.) each recorded three goals and Berlo and Curran each added an assist.

Freshman Christina Guglielmo (Fair Haven, N.J./Rumson-Fair Haven HS) made five saves in goal for the Falcons, while junior Courtney Wakem (Tiverton, R.I.) stopped 12 shots for the Purple Knights as Bentley held a 40-26 advantage in shots. Griffin won four draw controls to help the Falcons to an 18-17 edge in that category.

2007-05-02