CASTINE, Maine – The Husson University women's lacrosse team held off a late push to earn a 10-9 North Atlantic Conference victory over Maine Maritime Mariners on Saturday afternoon at Ritchie Field.
Maine Maritime (6-4, 3-1 NAC) struck first in terms of momentum, despite Husson (8-4, 3-1 NAC) opening the scoring just under a minute into the contest. Senior Laela Martinez netted the game's first goal at the 14:08 mark of the first quarter, but the Mariners responded with two of the next three goals to take a 3-2 lead at the end of one. Sophomore Kate Boehmcke also found the back of the net in the opening frame for the Eagles.
The second quarter proved to be the turning point. Maine Maritime extended its advantage to 5-2 early in the period behind a pair of goals, putting Husson on its heels. The Eagles responded with a dominant stretch, scoring five unanswered goals over the final 10 minutes of the half. Senior Madison Lower started the run with a man-up goal, followed by tallies from senior Averi Baker, Martinez, senior Gracie Gardner, and another from Baker in the final minute to give Husson a 7-5 halftime lead.
Husson carried that momentum into the third quarter, continuing to control play on both ends of the field. After Maine Maritime cut the deficit to one, Lower and Boehmcke answered with back-to-back goals before Martinez completed her hat trick with 1:22 remaining in the period, pushing the Eagles' lead to 10-6 heading into the fourth.
The Mariners mounted a late comeback attempt in the final quarter, scoring three times—including a man-up goal—to trim the deficit to just one with 27 seconds remaining. However, Husson controlled the ensuing draw and held on for the one-goal victory.
Martinez led the Eagles offensively with three goals and one assist, while Baker added two goals and three assists for a team-high five points. Lower and Boehmcke each scored twice, with Boehmcke also contributing two assists and a game-high seven draw controls. Gardner chipped in one goal to round out the scoring.
Defensively, Husson was paced by strong all-around efforts, including seven combined caused turnovers from Boehmcke and Martinez, in addition to a team-high five ground balls from Boehmcke, while Salin Bachor made four saves in goal to secure the win.
As a team, Husson held advantages in shots (35-18), shots on goal (24-13), ground balls (24-22), and draw controls (12-9), while also forcing 30 Maine Maritime turnovers.
The Eagles will look to carry the momentum into their final matchups of the regular season this coming week, as they will head to the University of Maine at Farmington on Tuesday for a 4 p.m. contest, before ending the regular season on Saturday at Thomas College.
