Bates Women's lacrosse rises to 8-1 with 17-5 win over Southern Maine

LEWISTON, Maine -- Senior Moriah Greenstein had three goals and six assists, all in the first half, as the No. 13 nationally ranked Bates College women's lacrosse team defeated the University of Southern Maine 17-5 Tuesday afternoon at Garcelon Field.

Bates (8-1) maintains its best pace through nine games since 1992, when the team started 10-0. The Bobcats will next host No. 12 Hamilton in a NESCAC game on Saturday at noon.

Southern Maine (1-4) dropped its fourth straight game.

Before sitting out the second half with the game well in hand, Greenstein (Glenmont, N.Y.) came within one assist of matching the team single-game record, which she tied earlier this season. The All-America attacker leads the NESCAC in goals (30) by a margin of 10 and in points (50) by nine. Greenstein now has 13 more career assists than any player in team history.

First-year Sydney Howard (Ashland, Mass.) added two goals and two assists for Bates, while junior Sydney Cowles (Wayne, Pa.) and first-year Lili Brown (Darien, Conn.) both had two goals and one assist. Sophomore Camille Belletete (Jaffrey, N.H.) and senior Emma Noto (Portland, Ore.) also both scored twice for the Bobcats.

Bates' All-America senior goalkeeper, Hannah Jeffrey (Greenwich, Conn.), made one save in the opening period and gave up two goals before giving way to first-year Eliza Statile (Ipswich, Mass.) for the second half. Statile made four stops against three goals allowed in her second career appearance.

Miriam Wood made her collegiate debut in goal for the Huskies and made three saves while allowing 13 goals. Caley Presby made two saves with four goals allowed in the second half.

Bates scored the first four goals of the game before Southern Maine got on the board in the 10th minute with Kenzie Kidder setting up Hannah LaSalle.

Senior Alex Briody (North Kingstown, R.I.) returned the four-goal lead to Bates 71 seconds later, and Greenstein and Howard combined to make it 7-1, both assisting the other's second goal of the game.

Everett charged down the middle and through the Bates defense to give USM its second goal of the game with 13:20 left in the first half. But Noto scored back-to-back goals at 7:43 and 6:21, and the Bobcats scored six unanswered goals over the final eight minutes of the period.

The lead expanded to 15-2 in the first 10 minutes of the second half, as Brown scored unassisted and Belletete cashed in on a free-position shot.

The Huskies outscored the Bobcats 3-2 over the final 20 minutes of the game, with Pellegrinelli's two goals sandwiching another coast-to-coast scoring effort by Everett. Bates first-year Anika Becker (Summit, N.J.) scored her first collegiate goal on an assist by Howard with 14:37 to go, then added her first assist on a score by junior Kaileigh Maguire (Sudbury, Mass.) with 10:19 left in the game.

Bates scored its 17 goals on just 28 shots, attempting only eight shots in the second half. Bates had a 22-9 advantage in shots on goal.