Oliver's six points, including late goal and assist, leads Bulldogs

Leach matched her career-high with four goals, adding an assist for a career-best five points (PHOTO BY Mary Gettens)

EASTON, Mass. (April 19, 2023) – Bryant University held off a big comeback effort from Stonehill College with a late four-goal run to secure a 17-13 triumph in a non-conference women's lacrosse matchup on Timothy J. Coughlin, '08 Memorial Field at W.B. Mason Stadium tonight. 

Highlights

• Senior Emily Oliver totaled a game-high six points with four goals and two assists for Bryant, while classmate Skylar Simmonds added four goals and an assist for the Bulldogs. Both contributed a goal and assist during a game-clinching four-goal run that sealed the win after Stonehill had closed back to within a goal.
• Junior Peyton Woodward netted three goals for Bryant, while classmate Chamberlaine Bell chipped in a goal and two assists.
• Junior Claire Smith posted a career-high 15 saves in the goal for Stonehill.
• Classmate Lilly Leach paced the Stonehill attack with a season-high matching four goals and an assist for a career-best five points, adding five draw controls and three ground balls.
• Senior All-American Lydia Rudden added four points with two goals and two assists, while postgrad All-American Emma Sullivan netted two goals and collected three draw controls, three ground balls and a caused turnover.
• Freshman Gabriella Parisi chipped in a season-high two goals for the Skyhawks.
• Junior Sam Centofante and freshman Ashlyn Watkins split the goalkeeping duties for Bryant, with Centofante recording three saves with two caused turnovers and three ground balls in the first half, before Watkins made six stops in the second.

Smith kept the Skyhawks within striking distance with a career-high 15 saves (PHOTO BY Andrew Katsampes)

How it Happened

• Bryant scored the first six goals, including the first two by Simmonds, on its way to an 8-1 lead after a quarter of play, with Simmonds netting three goals in all over the first 15 minutes.
• Leach scored the first four goals of the second quarter to pull Stonehill back into the game (8-5) with 9:26 remaining in the first half.
• Bryant restored its seven-goal cushion (12-5) at the intermission by scoring the last four goals of the half, including a pair from Woodward.
• Stonehill once again responded with the first four goals of the quarter, with Rudden notching a goal and assist, to pull back within three (12-9) on Parisi's first of the game, assisted by junior Molly Mae Hughes, with 4:27 remaining in the third.
• Oliver broke up the run for Bryant with 42-seconds remaining in the third quarter, but Stonehill kept its momentum going with three goals over the first four minutes of the fourth, including two by Sullivan to trim the deficit to a single goal (13-12).
• Bryant scored three over a two-minute span to reclaim control with markers from Simmonds, Woodward and freshman Emily DeGeorge.
• Oliver stretched the Bulldogs lead to five with 2:55 to play before Rudden capped the game's scoring with 1:25 on the clock.

Noteworthy

• Rudden has multiple points in 13-straight games, having logged at least one goal and one assist in the last 13 as well. She leads the NEC with her 43 assists this season – good for fourth on the program's all-time single-season list.
• Rudden moved into eighth place on Stonehill's career scoring list with 229, slipping past Heather Sullivan, '13 (228).
• Sullivan notched multiple goals in four-straight games with her pair tonight, giving her 167 career markers, and multiple goals in tenth games this season overall.
• Leach scored multiple goals for the second-straight game and eighth time this season overall.
• Smith's career-high 15 saves mark her second career game with double-figure saves.

Up Next

Stonehill (4-10, 4-3 NEC) wraps up its inaugural NCAA Division I season on Saturday, when it visits Central Connecticut State University for a Northeast Conference matchup at 1 p.m. Bryant (7-6, 2-3 America East) is off until Saturday, April 29, when it hosts UAlbany for an America East clash at 1 p.m.

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