Pictured Above: Sophomore Erin Kerstetter
Box Score
Smithfield, RI – In a battle between teams that have faced one another in each of the last five Northeast Conference (NEC) Championship games,
Erin Kerstetter poured in four goals and dished out one assist, while
Stephanie Falcone and
Madeline Seims each added hat tricks in leading the Wagner women's lacrosse team to a wire-to-wire 15-8 win at Bryant on Thursday night.
After seeing their eight-game winning streak snapped last time out at Mount St. Mary's, the Seahawks appear bent on starting another one in improving to 10-3 on the season, 3-1 in Northeast Conference (NEC) play, while the Bulldogs are now 7-6 overall and are also 3-1 in league.
Wagner jumped out to a 4-0 lead 10 minutes into the game, extended its margin to 8-3 at halftime, and never looked back in recording its most one-sided victory ever over the Bulldogs. The Seahawks' previous largest margin of victory over Bryant was in the 2016 NEC title game when Wagner came away with an 11-7 win.
Falcone triggered the early Wagner surge as the junior attacker buried three goals in Wagner's game-opening 4-0 run.
In addition to pacing the Seahawks with five points, Kerstetter collected team highs in ground balls and draw controls with six apiece, the latter giving the sophomore 79 DC's on the season, just four away from the Wagner single-season record of 83 set by
Erika Bulken in 2012.
Seims' three scores extended the sophomore midfielder's team-leading goal total to 40 on the season. Defensively, Wagner's leader in caused turnovers with 22, senior
Maddie Courtney, came up with a team-best 4 CTs while classmate
Kirsten Monte added three. In goal,
Kelsey Fee turned away 12 shots, marking her third double-digit save total of the season.
Caitlin Bolen led Bryant with three goals while five different Bulldogs notched one score apiece. In goal, Giana Kapoosuzian was credited with 14 saves.
Statistically, Wagner held the upper hand in shots (37-30) and ground balls (28-19) while Bryant held a slim 13-12 edge in draw controls. Perhaps the key statistic in the game was the Seahawks' 6-of-9 accuracy on free position shots while, at the same time, limiting the Bulldogs to 1-of-5 on their FPS attempts.
The Green & White continue NEC play on Saturday, April 20 when the Seahawks travel to Central Connecticut for a 1:00 p.m. first draw vs. the Blue Devils.
