Searching for their first April win, the women’s lacrosse team braved a cold and rainy night for a contest against UMass Lowell on Stevenson-Pincince Field Wednesday. A strong defensive effort propelled the Bears (5-8, 0-5 Ivy) to a 12-6 win over the River Hawks (6-8, 2-5 America East).
Bruno grabbed three early, unanswered goals, the first coming from Hafsa Moinuddin ’19 and the next two from Zoe Verni ’19. The River Hawks grabbed one back on a goal from Jane Dudley, but Bruno tallied three more unanswered finishes to take a 6-1 lead. Dudley scored again, but Emma DeGennaro ’20 responded to give the Bears a 7-2 lead into the halftime break.
Conceding only two goals in the first 30 minutes of play, Bruno’s defense was solid throughout the night.
“It’s a veteran crew (that) was playing smart,” said Head Coach Keely McDonald ’00. “We had a good game plan by our defensive coach, … (and) it was an overall team effort that was strong.”
The beginning of the second half was a defensive gridlock, and for 10 minutes, neither team netted a goal. Dudley scored again to break the drought for the River Hawks, recording a hat-trick in the process.
McDonald attributes Bruno’s lack of early scoring in the second half to over-excitement. We were “probably pushing a little too fast (and) getting a little too excited to generate shots,” she said. “It’s always important once you’ve scored a bunch to stay really poised and maintain discipline and offensive sets.”
Carolyn Paletta ’18.5 snagged Brown’s first goal of the second half with 15:07 remaining in the game, but UMass Lowell’s Hana Caster scored again on a free position shot just two minutes later to bring the score to 8-4. The goal gave the River Hawks the momentum, and they threatened to score more.
But Bruno halted the comeback with goals from Verni and Paletta. Then, with 2:36 remaining to play, Moinuddin collected a pass on a cutting run from behind the net and bounced a shot off the turf to give Bruno a 12-4 lead. It was Brown’s third three-goal burst of the night, and it all but sealed the win for the Bears.
UMass Lowell’s Caster netted two goals in the waning minutes of the half to collect a hattrick, but Brown’s lead proved insurmountable, and the Bears grabbed the 12-6 win.
Moinuddin and Verni led Bruno to victory, each recording four goals in the win.
Brown outshot the River Hawks 31-19, but converted only three of its eight free position shots.
Preparing to finish off the season with two conference contests against Columbia and Dartmouth, the Bears are looking to build off the win.
“We’ve kept improving all season long,” said McDonald. “We want to continue to do that for our final two games.”
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