AMHERST, Mass. - No. 18 New Hampshire used a five-goal run to start the second half en route to a 10-6 win over the UMass women's lacrosse team on Tuesday afternoon at McGuirk Stadium. Michaela Hardy scored a game-high four goals for the Wildcats including three in the second half run. The first half was a close one with each team trading goals and New Hampshire taking a 5-4 lead at halftime.

UMass (2-7) was led by Stephanie Hopkins (Valley Cottage, N.Y.) who tied her career-high with two goals and freshman keeper Colleen Speth (Evanston, Ill) who had a career-high 12 saves. Melynda Zwick (Holland, Pa.) also tied her career-high with three assists, while Julie Papaleo (Manlius, N.Y.) tied her career-high with three caused turnovers.

Along with Hardy's four goals, New Hampshire (8-2) was led by Shaunna Kaplan who had two goals and two assists. Hardy also led the team defensively with five caused turnovers, while Ashley Crook had three caused turnovers and a game-high four groundballs. Ashely Milley picked up her eighth win of the season in net with eight saves.

What was a tight first half for both teams quickly turned to favor the visiting Wildcats in the second. Hardy scored just over three minutes into the half followed by goals from Sarah Von Bargen and Susie Piotrkowski. Hardy then added back-to-back goals giving her a team-high 23 for the seaon and pushing the Wildcat lead to 10-4 with 13:41 remaining in the game.

UMass fought back to score twice within 30 seconds when Jackie Lyons (Rocky Point, N.Y.) and Hopkins each scored. The Minutewomen were able to get several more possessions down the stretch but committed seven of their 20 turnovers in the final 12 minutes of the game.

UMass led 2-1 after the first eight minutes of play thanks to goals by Hopkins and Jeannette Villapiano. Consecutive goals by Kaplan gave the Wildcats a 3-2 lead before Kathleen Typadis (Medfield, Mass.) evened the score once again in the first half. The Wildcats added another pair of back-to-back goals before Kaytlin McCormick (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) scored her team leading 18th goal of the season to make the halftime score 5-4.

New Hampshire outshot UMass 26-to-18 including 11-to-6 in the second half. The teams were even on draw controls (nine each) and groundballs (18 each), while the Wildcats committed 17 turnovers to 20 for UMass.

UMass will open its Atlantic 10 schedule on Friday night (7:30 p.m.) at Richmond.

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AMHERST, Mass. – Michaela Hardy (Reading, Mass.) scored four goals and Shaunna Kaplan (Framingham, Mass.) also tallied four points with two goals and two assists to lead the 18th-ranked University of New Hampshire women's lacrosse team to Tuesday afternoon's 10-6 non-conference victory against the University of Massachusetts at McGuirk Stadium.

The Wildcats, who entered the IWLCA poll for the first time this season in the poll released earlier in the day, won their seventh consecutive game to improve to 8-2 overall. UMass is now 2-7.

Ashley Crook (South Burlington, Vt.) was the other Wildcat who recorded multiple points with two assists. The ‘Cats received single goals from Ashley Durepo (Concord, N.H.), Susie Piotrkowski (Franklin, Conn.), Moira Talbot (Marblehead, Mass.) and Sarah Von Bargen (East Setauket, N.Y.).

UNH goalkeeper Ashley Milley (Sudbury, Mass.) was credited with eight saves, including seven in the first half. Hardy also finished with five caused turnovers and two ground balls while Crook had two caused turnovers and four ground balls. The defensive effort was anchored by Bailley Mazur (Longmeadow, Mass.) and Allie Duclos (South Windsor, Conn.). Mazur had three GB, one DC and one CTO; Duclos' numbers included two GB, two DC and one CTO.

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2008-03-25