Rudden totals eight points in milestone night, breaking career assist mark and notching 200^th career point
Sullivan nets a career-high matching five goals

Sullivan matched her career-high with five goals, all assisted by Rudden, tonight (PHOTO BY Andrew Katsampes)

EASTON, Mass. (March 29, 2023) – Senior All-American Lydia Rudden enjoyed a record-breaking and milestone night as she had a hand in eight of Stonehill College's 13 goals in a 13-4 triumph over Merrimack College in Northeast Conference women's lacrosse action on Timothy J. Coughlin, '80 Memorial Field at W.B. Mason Stadium tonight.

Rudden, who matched her season-high with eight points as she dished out a season-best seven assists to go with a goal, became the 14^th player in Stonehill women's lacrosse history to surpass 200 career points and also broke the program's career assist mark of 128 set by Jenny McGrath, '06 with her fourth helper of the night. Rudden has now dished out a program-best 132 assists to go with 41 goals for 203 points in just 42 career games over her Stonehill career.

To put Rudden's career marks into perspective after just 42 games, her 4.83 career points per game are on pace to set a new program mark – ahead of both her head coach Katie (Lambert) Conover, '03 (4.72) and Michelle Kelly, '09 (4.66) who share the program's scoring record with 326 career points – over 100 more than Rudden's current total. Rudden has averaged 3.14 assists per game over her career – nearly double McGrath's 1.68 assists per game as she dished out her 128 assists in 76 career games. Rudden's 203 career points are tied for 13^th all-time at Stonehill with Liza Gross, '10.

Highlights

• Rudden matched her season-high with eight points, including the 200th of her career, dishing out a season-best seven assists, breaking the program's career mark in the process (PHOTO BY Andrew Katsampes)

  Postgrad All-American Emma Sullivan matched her career-high with five goals on the night for Stonehill, adding three draw controls, two caused turnovers and a ground ball.
• Juniors Molly Mae Hughes and Lilly Leach each netted two goals for Stonehill, while Leach also recorded six draw controls and a caused turnover.
• Sophomore Sarah Faley finished with eight saves and three ground balls in the Stonehill goal as the Skyhawks defense produced its cleanest game of the season in yielding a season-low four goals – its fewest allowed since a 15-3 win at Saint Michael's College last April.
• Senior Sophie Scearbo scored three of Merrimack's four goals on the night.
• Sophomore Hayley Kowalczyk finished with 11 saves in the Warriors goal, adding three ground balls.

How it Happened

• After trading goals over the first 25-minutes of the contest, Stonehill grabbed a two-goal lead (5-3) at the half with goals from Leach on a free-position attempt and Sullivan, assisted by Rudden, in the final 2:45 of the second quarter.
• That was the start of a an 8-0 run that spanned the third quarter in which Stonehill outscored Merrimack 6-0 to take control of the contest.
• Rudden spearheaded the six-goal third quarter with a goal and three assists, setting up Sullivan twice, before capping the third quarter scoring with her 12^th goal of the season with 23-seconds left to give Stonehill an eight-goal cushion (11-3) heading to the fourth.
• Rudden's assist on Sullivan's fourth goal of the night with 2:30 remaining in the third was the 129^th of her career to break the program record and then notched her 200^th career point just 16-seconds later by setting up freshman Natalie Coutu's second of the year.
• Scearbo broke up the Stonehill run with her third of the night 5:18 into the fourth quarter, but Stonehill followed with the final two goals of the contest from Sullivan and Hughes, both assisted by Rudden, in the closing 8:39 to seal the Skyhawks second NEC win of the year.

Leach added two goals and collected a team-high six draw controls (PHOTO BY Andrew Katsampes)

Noteworthy

• Rudden assisted on all five of Sullivan's goals on the night.
• Rudden has multiple assists in her sixth-straight game with five-plus assists in three-straight and four-plus in four games.
• Sullivan has multiple goals for the seventh time this season and moved to within ten points of joining Rudden in Stonehill's 200-point club with 154 goals (9^th all-time) and 36 assists in 60 career games.
• Hughes has multiple goals for the third-straight game.
• Faley recorded her first win of the season in the Stonehill goal and matched her season-best with the eight saves.
• Seven different Skyhawks scored goals in the win.
• Stonehill dominated the draws, finishing with a 15-6 advantage, including 5-0 in the first quarter.
• Stonehill outscored Merrimack 11-2 after the two teams were tied 2-2 after the first quarter.

Up Next

Stonehill (2-6, 2-1 NEC) returns to action on Saturday, when it visits Saint Francis (Pa.) University for an NEC matchup at 1 p.m. The Skyhawks next home matchup is next Saturday, April 8, when it hosts Sacred Heart University at W.B. Mason Stadium at 1 p.m. Merrimack (2-10, 1-2 NEC) is off until April 8 when it hosts Saint Francis at noon.

For the latest on Stonehill Athletics, follow the Skyhawks via social media on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Fans can also download the Stonehill Skyhawks "Front Row" mobile app, powered by PrestoSports, on iTunes and the Android Market.