University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
Saint Joseph's
Lyons Tallies Four Goals Leading Women's Lax Past St. Joseph's 10-8
March 29, 2009 | Women's Lacrosse
March 29, 2009
PHILADELPHIA - Behind four goals from sophomore Jackie Lyons and nine saves from freshman goalie Katie Florence, the UMass women's lacrosse team downed Saint Joseph's 10-8 on Sunday afternoon. The win improves the Minutewomen to 2-0 in the Atlantic 10 and puts UMass (5-6 overall) in a three-way tie at the top of the league standings after the first weekend of play.
Next weekend, the Minutewomen will have a chance to take the top spot outright as fellow league-leaders Richmond (Friday, 3 PM) and George Washington (Sunday, 1 PM) both visit McGuirk Stadium.
Sunday's game was a back-and-forth affair which featured six lead changes and six ties. Lyons' fourth goal of the game proved the game-winner and Danielle Pelletier added an insurance goal with 8:24 remaining in the second half.
The teams entered halftime knotted at 7-7 as both squads traded goals throughout the first half. SJU's Jenna Martino opened the scoring four minutes, 22 seconds into the game, but Lyons responded with an unassisted goal just under a minute later to tie the game.
With 28 seconds left in the first half, Julie Mineweaser put the Hawks (5-6, 1-1 A-10) up 7-6, but UMass sophomore Haley Smith (2g, 2a) answered with nine seconds remaining to tie the game at the break.
The second half started with nearly seven minutes of scoreless play before Pelletier and Lyons scored back-to-back goals to put the Minutewomen up 9-7 - UMass' largest lead of the game.
Jen Peters netted Saint Joseph's only goal of the second half 13 seconds following Lyons' score to pull the Hawks within one, 9-8, with 16:32 left in the game.
With just over eight minutes left in the game, Pelletier netted her second goal of the day giving the Minutewomen some insurance.
Florence made three big saves in the final eight minutes and the UMass defense forced a pair of turnovers allowing the Minutewomen to run out much of the final moments of the game.
Statistically, the Hawks outshot UMass 25-to-23 and picked up 12 groundballs to 9 for the Minutewomen.
Martino finished the game with three goals to lead the Hawks followed by Helene Tursi's two goals and one assist. Goalie Suzy Herlihy made seven saves in the loss.
UMass seniors Meghan Reddy and Holly Drown each posted a goal in the game to round out the Minutewomen's scoring. Drown has now scored in all 11 games of the season.
