Sullivan netted a game-high five goals, including the 100th of her career, to help lead the Skyhawks (PHOTO BY Jon Bourque)

Rudden's ten point day leads Skyhawks to fourth-straight win, while Sullivan nets 100^th career goal

COLCHESTER, Vt. (April 16, 2022) – Stonehill College, ranked No. 13 in this week's USA Lacrosse Magazine Division II poll and No. 15 in the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Division II poll, closed out its regular season road schedule with a commanding 15-3 triumph at Saint Michael's College in Northeast-10 Conference women's lacrosse action at Duffy Field this afternoon.

Senior preseason All-American Emma Sullivan notched another milestone for her career by netting her 100^th career goal during a game-high five goal effort, to go with an assist for six points. She has now totaled 103 goals and 28 assists for 131 points in 43 career games played. Junior Lydia Rudden, who joined Sullivan with 100 career points last week, led the Skyhawks with ten points on the day, marking her second double-figure scoring output of the season, with four goals and six assists. 

Scoring

Stonehill
Goals: Emma Sullivan 5, Lydia Rudden 4, Kendall Fressle 2, Abby Ahearn 2, Molly Mae Hughes, Lilly Leach.
Assists: Lydia Rudden 6, Emma Sullivan. 

Saint Michael's
Goals: Kelsey Bush, Addy Fenton, Erin Stolz.
Assists: None. 

Goalkeeping
Stonehill: Sarah Faley – 9 saves (45:00); Claire Smith – 2 saves (15:00).
Saint Michael's: Abby Cole – 12 saves (60:00). 

More Leaders

Stonehill
Caused Turnovers: Lilly Leach 4.
Draw Controls: Emma Sullivan 11.
Ground Balls: Lydia Rudden 4. 

Saint Michael's
Caused Turnovers: Mackenzie Costello & Jordy Fenton 2.
Draw Controls: Addy Fenton & Catie Murphy 2.
Ground Balls: Mackenzie Costello 4. 

Rudden matched her career-best with ten points, totaling four goals and six assists (PHOTO BY Crystal Ayn Photography)

How it Happened

• Stonehill scored the first five goals of the game within the opening 11 minutes of the contest, to grab a 5-1 lead after a quarter on its way to a 10-1 halftime lead and never looked back.
• Freshman Sarah Faley did make eight of her nine saves in the first half, including five in the first quarter, to hold Saint Michael's.
• Sullivan and sophomore Abby Ahearn each scored twice in the first quarter, with Sullivan's second of the game with 9:11 to play in the frame the 100^th of her career. Rudden recorded a goal and two assists in the opening quarter.
• Stonehill broke the game open by outscoring Saint Michael's 5-0 in the second. Senior Kendall Fressle scored both of her goals on the day in the quarter, with Rudden adding another goal and assist as Sullivan potted her third of the day.
• Rudden had a hand in each of the first three goals of the second half, netting two and assisting on Sullivan's fourth of the afternoon within the first five minutes.
• After Saint Michael's broke up the 8-0 Stonehill run with its second goal of the day off the stick of junior Erin Stolz midway through the third quarter, the Skyhawks capped their scoring on the afternoon with Sullivan's fifth and a tally from sophomore Molly Mae Hughes, both assisted by Rudden, before the third quarter expired.

Noteworthy

• Rudden's second career-high ten-point effort of the season gives her multiple points in all 12 games, with multiple assists in ten-straight games and multiple goals in three-straight.
• Rudden's NE10-leading 48 assists this season are tied for second on Stonehill's all-time single season list with her older sister, Brooke Rudden '15 who dished out 48 helpers in 2015 – 18 shy of the program record of 66 by Jenny McGrath '06 in 2006. Rudden has now totaled 44 goals and 77 assists for 121 points in just 25 career games, ranking eighth in program history for career assists.

• Faley made eight of her nine saves in the first half, including five in the opening quarter to protect a 5-1 lead (PHOTO BY Crystal Ayn Photography)

  In addition to her five goals and an assist for six points, Sullivan collected double-digit draw controls (11) for the fifth time this season and fourth time over the last five games. Her 186 career draws rank fourth all-time in Stonehill history, with her NE10-leading 101 this spring ranking fourth on the program's all-time single-season list.
• Stonehill finished with four student-athletes with multiple goals, with Sullivan (5), Rudden (4), Ahearn (2) and Fressle (2) all scoring multiples. It's the first multi-goal game of the season for Ahearn, who matched her career-best for goals scored.
• Fressle has multiple goals in five-straight games and nine games this season overall. She has now totaled 94 points with 79 goals and 15 assists in 40 career games.
• Faley shared the goalkeeping duties for Stonehill, posting nine saves in 45-minutes of work, before sophomore Claire Smith made two stops in the closing 15 minutes. Freshman Abby Cole went the distance in goal for Saint Michael's and finished with 12 saves.
• Sophomore Lilly Leach caused a career-high four turnovers on the afternoon.
• Stonehill has reached ten wins for the first time since finishing 12-7 in 2017, having won ten of 12 for the first time since opening the 2015 season with 12-straight wins.
• Stonehill is off to an 8-1 start in NE10 play for the first time since winning the first nine in the Conference in 2015.
• This afternoon marked Stonehill's final road game of the regular season as the Skyhawks will close out the season with four games at W.B. Mason Stadium over the final two weeks of the regular season.
• Stonehill moved up one spot to No. 15 in this week's IWLCA Division II poll and up three spots to No. 13 in the USA Lacrosse Magazine poll.

Up Next

Stonehill (10-2, 8-1 NE10) is back in action on Wednesday, when it opens a four-game homestand to close out the regular season against Southern Connecticut State University at W.B. Mason Stadium at 7 p.m. Saint Michael's (1-11, 0-9 NE10) visits Southern New Hampshire University on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

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