Hughes matched her career-high with six goals for her second-straight NEC contest, finishing with a season-best nine points (PHOTO BY Andrew Katsampes)

Hughes leads Skyhawks to fifth-straight NEC victory with season-high nine points

WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 2, 2024) – Senior attack Molly Mae Hughes matched her career-high with six goals for the second-straight week on her way to a season-best nine points to lead Stonehill College to a 22-10 triumph over Howard University in Northeast Conference women's lacrosse action at Greene Stadium this afternoon.

Stonehill is off to a 2-0 start in NEC play by posting its fifth-straight win in Conference play dating back to last season. Hughes netted a career-high matching six goals in her second-straight NEC contest, adding a season-best three assists for a season-high nine points with two ground balls. Sophomore Natalie Coutu totaled a career-high seven points for the second-straight game, dishing out a career-best five assists with two goals, while classmate Grace Murphy tallied four goals and an assist for five points. Senior Lilly Leach matched her career-high with four goals to go with a career-high matching 15 draw controls and career-best nine ground balls as the Skyhawks won the possession battle with a 23-13 advantage on the draw.

Senior Claire Smith and freshman Nina Tremonte split the goalkeeping duties for Stonehill. Smith made six first half saves for the Skyhawks, while Tremonte made her collegiate debut in the second half and finished with three stops. Junior Logan Ford made six saves in goal for Howard.

Junior Marley Rhymes, a transfer from La Salle University, led four multi-goal scorers for Howard with three goals. Sophomore Tea Vasquez dished out a team-high three assists for the Bison who got two goals apiece from classmate Chase Coleman, fifth-year Quai Skeete-Ridley chipped in four ground balls, two draw controls and a caused turnover           

Coutu dished out a career-high five assists to go with a pair of goals for a career-hgh matching seven points for the second-straight game (PHOTO BY Andrew Katsampes)

How it Happened

• Hughes scored twice within a 15-second span to give Stonehill a quick two goal lead less than three minutes into the contest.
• Murphy extended the Stonehill lead to three goals with 10:35 to play in the first quarter, before Coleman and Rhymes followed with free-position goals to pull Howard back within a goal with 9:34 remaining in the frame.
• Hughes and Leach scored two goals each, with Coutu delivering a pair of assists, during a five-goal run that extended Stonehill's lead to six goals (9-3) after Murphy's second of the game with 2:43 left in the opening quarter.
• Mack closed out the first quarter scoring for the Bison, but Stonehill scored four of the first five goals in the second to open an eight-goal margin (13-5) after Leach's third goal of the game, assisted by Hughes who dished a pair of assists during the stretch, with eight minutes left in the first half.
• Stonehill's lead extended to nine goals (15-6) after Hughes' fifth goal of the half with 3:20 remaining. Rhymes capped the first half scoring that would start a three-goal Howard run that wrapped around halftime to trim the Bison deficit to six (15-9) after another Rhymes marker less than four minutes into the third quarter.
• Stonehill closed the game out with a seven-goal run over an 11-minute stretch split between the third and fourth quarters, sparked by two-straight goals from junior Sofia D'Agostino, while Hughes tallied and goal and assist and Leach capped it with her fourth of the game for a 22-9 lead with 9:12 remaining.
• Rhymes closed the Howard scoring and her hat trick with 6:15 to play.

Noteworthy

• Stonehill got multiple goals from six different players, with sophomore Abby Hanifin scoring her first two goals of the season for a career-best pair, adding her first career assist for a career-high three points.
• Sophomore Caroline Leone notched the first goal and assist of her collegiate career, while freshman Cameron Flaherty netted her first goal in her collegiate debut.
• Hughes has multiple points in all four games this season and five-straight dating back to her hat trick in Stonehill's win over Central Connecticut State University in its 2023 season finale.
• Murphy has multiple goals in all four games this season, with her four goals giving her seven multi-goal games for her career.
• Coutu has multiple points and assists in all four games so far for Stonehill, with the first three multi-goal games of her career in the Skyhawks last three contests.
• Murphy (16 goals) and Hughes (15) lead the NEC in goals, while Murphy (22 points) and Coutu (22) share the NEC scoring lead one point ahead of Hughes (21). Coutu leads the Conference in assists (14), eight more than Hughes and Murphy with six each in second.

Up Next

Stonehill (2-2, 2-0 NEC) returns to action on Wednesday when it visits Winthrop University for a non-conference matchup at 3 p.m. The Skyhawks next home game is Wednesday, March 20, when it hosts College of the Holy Cross at W.B. Mason Stadium at 6 p.m. Howard (0-6, 0-1 NEC) visits Central Connecticut State University on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.

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