BANGOR, Maine – The Husson University women's lacrosse team prevailed late in Saturday's North Atlantic Conference matchup against SUNY Morrisville, as it came away with a 13-11 victory at Boucher Field.
Husson (4-7, 3-1 NAC) got off to a fast start, as junior Jordyn Lengle found the scoring column 58 seconds into the contest off of a feed from classmate Natalie Whitten. Sophomore Gracie Gardner continued the hot start for the Eagles by connecting on two-consecutive goals on passes from fellow sophomore Laela Martinez, as it was 3-0 Husson nearly six minutes in.
After Morrisville (5-7, 3-1 NAC) posted two goals of its own to close-out the opening quarter, sophomore Averi Baker posted two goals, while graduate student Sophia Gomez added one, as the Eagles upped their lead to 6-2 less than five minutes into the second quarter.
Following two more goals from the Mustangs, Gomez and Martinez each connected on unassisted tallies to regain a four-goal lead for the Eagles. The Mustangs added one goal of their own to bring the deficit down to 8-5 headed into the halftime break.
Morrisville brought some intensity out of the halftime-break, posting the first two goals of the third quarter to cut the Husson lead down to one. While junior Maddy Benoit managed to slow the Mustang momentum for a moment with an unassisted goal, Morrisville immediately added two goals to knot the game up at nine with just over 4:30 remaining in the penultimate quarter.
The two teams traded goals to end the third period, as an unassisted score from Whitten put the Eagles up 10-9, but a goal from the Mustangs with 32 seconds left in the period sent the game into the fourth quarter tied at 10.
Lengle broke a scoreless stretch of more than seven minutes to begin the deciding quarter, as she fired a pass from Martinez into the back of the net, but once again Morrisville would find an equalizer, as a woman-up goal with 6:06 left tied the game back up.
Whitten took advantage of a woman-up chance for the Eagles just over a minute later, as she cut in front of the Morrisville goalkeeper and received a pass from Martinez and found the eventual game-winning goal. Baker added an insurance goal with 1:14 left on a pass from Whitten, as the Husson defense held strong over the final stretch of the game to hand the Mustangs their first conference loss.
Baker posted a hat-trick on the day to lead the Eagle offense, while Gardner, Gomez, Whitten and Lengle each added two goals. Martinez concluded a well-rounded effort with one goal, four assists, five ground balls and four caused turnovers. Whitten added two assists to her pair of goals and became the all-time assist leader in the history of Husson women's lacrosse, as she passed Alissa Fallon.
Junior Emma Begin snatched 13 shots in net for the Eagles, as she picked up her fourth win of the year.
Husson is back in action on Sunday when it travels to Vermont State University Lyndon for another NAC matchup with opening draw-control set for 1 p.m.
