Leach controls possession with 16 draw controls, leads attack with seven points

Leach collected a career-high 16 draw controls and totaled seven points to lead the Skyhawks back into the win column (PHOTO BY Mary Gettens, '23)

EASTON, Mass. (April 13, 2024) – Stonehill College controlled possession with a 22-8 advantage on the draw to key a 21-8 bounce back victory over Delaware State University in a Northeast Conference women's lacrosse matchup on Timothy J. Coughlin, '80 Memorial Field at W.B. Mason Stadium this afternoon.

Senior Lilly Leach keyed the Stonehill possession by collecting a career-high 16 of the Skyhawks 22 draw controls on the afternoon while also leading the attack with five goals and two assists for seven points and chipping in two ground balls. Classmate Molly Mae Hughes added four goals and an assist for five points, while sophomore Natalie Coutu tallied five points with two goals and three assists.

Junior Sofia D'Agostino and sophomore Grace Murphy each added three goals and an assist for the Skyhawks, while D'Agostino chipped in with four draw controls. Senior Claire Smith and freshman Nina Tremonte split the goalkeeping duties for Stonehill, with Smith notching three first half saves with a caused turnover and two ground balls, while Tremonte added a second half save.

Coutu finished with five points, all in the first quarter, with two goals and three assists (PHOTO BY Mary Gettens, '23)

Sophomore Zahra Gotz led Delaware State with three goals, two ground balls, three caused turnovers and a draw control. Postgrad Ebony Reddick also contributed three points with two goals and an assist. Sophomore Isabel Gautreaux and junior Yeda Couto-Erickson each totaled three saves in 15 minutes of play in the Hornets goal.

How it Happened

• Leach and Coutu got Stonehill off to a fast start with consecutive goals off Leach draws in the opening 63-seconds. Leach won the opening draw and raced in for her first goal of the day after just ten seconds, with Coutu following off the ensuing draw won by Leach with a second-chance goal 53-seconds later.
• Stonehill scored six of the first seven goals in the contest, following Delaware State's opener by Reddick 1:09, with four-straight, including a pair by Hughes, and Coutu assisting on three of the four, to open a five-goal lead (6-1) after D'Agostino's first of the day off a Coutu feed with 8:38 remaining in the first quarter.
• Senior Micah Lambert and Reddick combined to score on either side of Coutu's second of the game to draw Delaware State back within four (7-3) heading to the second.
• The teams traded goals over the first 2:09 of the second quarter before Stonehill used a five-goal run, with Leach scoring twice, to open a nine goal cushion (13-4) after Hughes' third goal of the game with 9:29 remaining in the half.
• Gotz ended the run with her first goal of the afternoon with 7:14 to play in the second quarter, but Leach had a hand in the final two goals of the half, assisting on D'Agostino's second of the game with 4:02 remaining and then providing a ten-goal lead (15-5) with her third goal of the quarter and fourth of the game with two-seconds to go.
• Stonehill extended the run to six goals by outscoring Delaware State 4-0 in the third quarter with Hughes scoring her fourth of the game and then Leach adding her fifth with two-seconds to go in the third for a 14-goal advantage (19-5) heading to the fourth quarter that was more than enough to secure the win.

Noteworthy

• Hughes totaled four goals and an assist for the Skyhawks (PHOTO BY Craig Meyers, '24)

  Stonehill (5-3 NEC) holds onto fifth place in the NEC standings with two Conference games to play, sitting two games in front of seventh place Merrimack College (3-5) and a game ahead of Wagner College (4-4), along with the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Skyhawks are a game behind Saint Francis University (6-2) – who is Stonehill's next NEC opponent next Saturday (noon).
• Leach posted her ninth multi-goal game of the season, scoring three-plus goals for the sixth time, finishing the game with 96 goals in 51 career games.
• Her 16 draw controls push her over 100 in a season for the second time in her career, finishing the day with a career-best and NEC-leading 111 draws, marking the sixth 100 draw season in program history. She enters the next game just two draws shy of becoming just the second in program history with 300 career draw controls – just 15 behind Kelsey Reilly's, '13 program mark of 313.
• Hughes, held without a goal for the first time this season against LIU on Wednesday, bounced back with her 11^th multi-goal game of the season (35 career), marking her seventh game with four-plus goals.
• Murphy posted her ninth multi-goal game of the season, while D'Agostino notched her seventh with her third game with three-plus goals.
• Coutu has multiple assists for the 11^th time in 12 games this season, dishing out three or more for the seventh game. Her NEC-leading 34 assists are tied for eighth on Stonehill's all-time single-season list.
• Freshman Paige Curran made her collegiate debut for Stonehill this afternoon and scored her first collegiate goal with a free-position marker in the third quarter.

Up Next

Stonehill (6-7, 5-3 NEC) is right back in action at W.B. Mason Stadium on Tuesday, when it hosts Harvard University for a non-conference matchup at 4 p.m. Delaware State (2-11, 2-6 NEC) hosts Merrimack College next Saturday at 11 a.m.

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