Women's Lacrosse Falls to Roger Williams, 12-10

BRISTOL, R.I. – The Roger Williams University women's lacrosse team withstood a furious rally and utilized a late goal as the Hawks downed visiting Bridgewater State University, 12-10, on Monday afternoon.

The Hawks have now won two of their last three games to improve to 2-7 on the year. Bridgewater State falls for the first time in three games, slipping to 2-4 on the season.

RWU began the game with two goals in the first six minutes; the first coming from Kristen Pingree (Georgetown, Mass.) on a pass from Jessica Searl (Glastonbury, Conn.) five minutes in. Samantha Davenport (Bethel, Conn.) scored less than a minute later, scoring off of an assist by Danielle Neagle (Avon, Conn.).

Sammi Salverio (Hanson, Mass.) put the Bears on the board at the 23:20 mark before the Hawks ran off three straight goals to close out the half. Holding a 5-1 halftime lead, Kelsey Rahilly (East Longmeadow, Mass.) opened the second period with a goal to give RWU its largest lead of the game.

Bridgewater State's Michelle Navoni (Mansfield, Mass.) and Taylor Clancy (Braintree, Mass.) both scored less than a minute apart to pull the Bears within three, but Pingree and Neagle responded with goals of their own.

The Bears began to mount a run over the next 13 minutes, scoring five of the next six goals to make it a 9-8 game in favor of RWU.  Clancy and Riley Cachelin (Westwood, Mass.) each scored twice during the run.  Searl put in a free position shot with 8:03 to play to push the Hawks lead to two. However, Bridgewater State would tie the game with under three minutes to play, thanks to goals by Salverio and Cachelin.

The game appeared to be headed to overtime, but Davenport came through with the game-winning goal on a free position shot with 32 seconds left to play. Searl added one more score with one second left to ice the game for the Hawks.

Justine Sullivan (Norwell, Mass.) notched her second win of the season, making nine saves in the game. Searl and Rahilly each finished with four points on three goals and one assist. Catherine Smeykal (Collegeville, Pa.) added four ground balls, three draw controls, and two caused turnovers.

Victoria Moore (Duxbury, Mass.) took the loss, stopping six shots in the contest. Clancy and Cachelin each scored three times in the game. Braylan Wenzel (Buzzards Bay, Mass.) finished with five draw controls, a ground ball, and a caused turnover.

RWU held a 28-25 shot advantage while the Bears had a slight 12-11 edge in controlled draws.

Roger Williams opens up Commonwealth Coast Conference play Wednesday at Nichols, while Bridgewater State hosts Wheaton on Thursday.