Women's Lacrosse Posts Dominating First-Half Performance, Downs UNH 12-3 for Fifth-Straight League Win
BOX SCORE
DURHAM, N.H. – University at Albany women's lacrosse (10-4, 5-0 AE) committed just one turnover in the first half en route to a 12-3 road victory at New Hampshire (6-9. 3-2 AE) on Saturday afternoon. Sarah Martin recorded four goals, three assists, three draw controls and two caused turnovers to lead the Great Danes.
Martin was involved in seven of UAlbany's 12 goals, getting off to a quick start with an assist to Rachel Bowles with 27:02 on the clock. Martin forced the initial turnover to give the Purple & Gold possession in the opening moments.
Defense proved to be UAlbany's best offense to start the contest, as Andrea Flood forced another turnover to send Dakotah Savitcheff downfield for her first goal of the game. Alie Jimerson picked up the assist on the play. Martin once again came up with the ball after a UNH turnover on the ensuing draw, capping off a three-goal Great Danes run from Kaylee Rickert moments later.
After struggling from the center circle initially, John Battaglino's squad won four of the next five draw controls to post a 9-1 lead going into halftime. The Purple & Gold scored three goals in two minutes to get out to a 6-1 advantage with 10 minutes remaining in the first half. Repeat offensive playmakers Bowles, Jimerson, Martin, Rickert and Savitcheff cruised to multiple-point performances in just two-minutes time.
Emily Mizer dodged her way to an unassisted goal at the 6:41 mark, and Martin crashed the goal unassisted two minutes later. Savitcheff connected with Jimerson to end first period scoring, notching her third goal of the game.
The Great Danes out-shot the Wildcats 20-6 in the first half, and committed one turnover to UNH's eight. The Wildcats also went just 2-for-5 (.400) on clearing attempts. UAlbany recorded its first turnover of the game with five minutes left in the opening stanza.
Savitcheff continued her hot scoring streak as the whistle blew for the second half. After a Courtney Henderson save, Christine Johnson scooped up the groundball and cleared downfield. An initial shot wide by Bowles, but Martin found Savitcheff to make the score 10-1 with 27:40 to play. Savitcheff converted on a free position shot shortly after to register running clock.
Tallying just four turnovers in the first 52 minutes of the game, the pace began to slow and UAlbany could not find the back of the cage for 20 minutes. The Wildcats scored twice, but a buzzer-beating behind the back goal from Martin courtesy of Jimerson finished the game in a 12-3 win.
Martin matched her career high with seven points on four goals and three assists. In the last eight games, she has averaged 2.75 goals and 4.88 points per game, and posted 31 draw control wins.
With five goals, Dakotah Savitcheff now claims 143 for her career to rank sixth all-time at UAlbany as a junior. Alie Jimerson dished out four assists against the Wildcats, good for 69 in her career and fourth all-time for the Great Danes. The sophomore is 10 shy of catching Andrea Esposito ('03), 13 from current assistant coach Taylor Frink ('11) and 15 from setting a new record.
Kaylee Rickert tallied the third multi-assist performance in her rookie campaign with three. Senior Christine Johnson joined the 100-draw club, now posting 101 in her career to rank seventh among Division I Danes.
Head coach John Battaglino tallied his sixth consecutive season with 10 or more wins at UNH on Saturday afternoon.
Next up, women's lacrosse (10-4, 5-0 AE) hosts No. 7/6 Stony Brook (13-3, 5-0 AE) for all the America East regular season marbles on Saturday, April 30 at noon from John Fallon Field. The unbeaten teams will battle in a heated rivalry game for the America East Regular Season Championship, tournament hosting rights and claim to the overall No. 1 seed.
