NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Sophomore Kelly Pasquantonio (Plainville, Mass.) scored eight goals to lead Merrimack to an 18-14 win over Bentley on Wednesday afternoon in Northeast-10 Conference women's lacrosse action at Warrior Field. The win boosted the Warriors to 2-1 with all their action coming in conference play, while the Falcons fell to 1-2 overall after their NE-10 opener.

Each team traded a pair of goals to open the game before Merrimack scored five straight, including two from sophomore Maddie Basile (Longmeadow) and one from twin sister Mia, to take a 7-2 lead that the Warriors never relinquished with 19:10 to go in the first half. The Basile sisters combined for 13 points with Mia scoring five goals and two assists, while Maddie netted four goals and added a pair of assists.

The scoring continued back and forth for the remainder of the first half, with senior Bridget Fitzgerald (Winchester/Winchester HS) converting an eight-meter shot three seconds before halftime to keep Bentley within five goals at the break.

The Warriors strung together three straight goals early in the second half, getting tallies from each of the Basile sisters and Pasquantonio. The Falcons put together their best offensive spurt midway through the second half, scoring five straight goals to pull within three. Junior All-America Alyssa Ritchie (North Andover, Mass./North Andover HS) and sophomore Erica de Silva (Dartmouth/Dartmouth HS) each netted two in that stretch to make it a 15-12 game with 14 minutes to go.

That was as close as Bentley could pull as Pasquantonio scored three times in the final ten minutes to put the game out of reach.

Ritchie and de Silva each netted hat tricks for the Falcons, as did sophomore Jaclyn Griffin (Barrington, Ill./Barrington HS). It was the first career multiple-goal game for de Silva and Ritchie recorded three assists for a six-point game. Freshman Leigh Tedeschi (Duxbury/Duxbury HS) also scored a pair of goals for Bentley and sophomore Christina Guglielmo (Fair Haven, N.J./Rumson-Fair Haven HS) made 11 saves between the pipes.

Freshman Jessica Slater (Londonderry, N.H.) stopped four shots for Merrimack to earn the win as the Warriors held a 41-23 advantage in shots.

The Falcons play in their home opener on Saturday, hosting Southern New Hampshire at 1:00 p.m.

2008-03-19