MILTON, Mass. – Junior attacker Kelly Parker (Branford, Conn.) tallied nine points, including a career-high seven goals to lead the Curry College women's lacrosse team to a 19-8 victory over visiting Simmons College this evening at Walter M. Katz Field in Milton, Mass. The Colonels extend their winning streak to five straight games to improve to 5-1 on the season, while the Sharks fall to 3-3.
Curry owned a 33-19 shot advantage and outscored Simmons, 11-4, in the second half. The Colonels made the most of their free position opportunities, scoring 10 times on 13 attempts.
Parker also added two ground balls, a pair of draw controls and a caused turnover for Curry, while junior midfielder Malorie Knowlton (Norfolk, Mass.) scored five goals, caused three turnovers, picked up three ground balls and won a pair of draws. Senior defender Alexis Cran (Branford, Conn.) registered five points, including four goals to go with a career-high 14 draw controls, four ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers. Senior goalie Annie Douglas (Manchester, N.H.) stopped six shots to earn the victory for the Colonels.
First year attacker Missie Maiewski (Northampton, Mass.) netted a team-high two goals for the Sharks and sophomore midfielder Kasey Fries (Bridgewater, Mass.) collected three points with a goal and two assists. First year midfielder Analise Giarrusso (Hingham, Mass.) came up with a match-high five ground balls. First year goalie Kenzie Rogers (Bourne, Mass.) turned away nine of 27 shots on net in 51:52 of play for Simmons.
The teams traded the first four goals of the match for a tie game at 2-2 with 24:08 left in the first half. Curry's first two goals came on free position shots with Knowlton and senior attacker Hanna Peper (Wayland, Mass.) each finding the back of the net for the home team. First year middie Elena Bragg (Belmont, Mass.) and Maiewski each netted a goal for the Sharks.
The Colonels scored three straight goals to take a 5-2 margin with 15:49 to go in the half with Parker figuring in all three markers. She assisted Knowlton, before scoring two goals of her own, including a tally with a player advantage. Simmons answered when sophomore attacker Kiera Kirkaldy (Middlebury, Vt.) scored on a feed from Fries and Maiewski followed just 57 seconds later on a free position shot to pull the Sharks to within 5-4 with 8:59 remaining in the period. It was as close as Simmons would get for the rest of the contest.
Curry netted three goals in a span of a minute, courtesy of senior defender Alexis Cran (Branford, Conn.), Parker and junior middie Rachael Lawrence (Hanover, Mass.) to give the Colonels an 8-4 lead before the intermission.
Parker wasted no time to maintain Curry's momentum with a goal coming just 14 seconds after the whistle to open the second stanza. Knowlton followed at 27:40 to give the Colonels a 10-4 advantage. First year defender Mallory Cottam (Hope, R.I.) tallied her first collegiate goal for the Sharks at the 25-minute mark, but Cran and Parker each scored on free position tries to increase the home team's lead to 12-5. Senior midfielder Ashley Sheehan (North Attleboro, Mass.) scored for Simmons, but Parker and Cran each scored again to make it a 14-6 cushion for Curry.
Fries cut the deficit to 14-7 with a player advantage score with 14:11 to play in the match for the Sharks, but five unanswered goals from the Colonels gave them a 19-7 lead. Knowlton scored a pair, in addition to single goals from sophomore defender Abby Carnevale (Beverly, Mass.), Cran and Parker, who tallied her team-leading 22nd goal of the season for Curry. Sophomore attacker Rachel Wadkins (Winthrop, Mass.) capped the night's scoring with her first collegiate goal and Simmons' final and eighth marker of the match.
Curry returns to action on March 24 when it travels to Providence, R.I. to take on Johnson & Wales University at 4:00 p.m., while the Sharks begin Great Northeast Athletic Conference play when they host Rivier University on Saturday, March 26 at 11:00 a.m. on Winsor Field.
