LaPia scored a career-high five goals and collected a career-best eight draw controls in the Skyhawks second-straight win (PHOTO BY Andrew Katsampes)

Five Skyhawks enjoy five-point games in Division I program-record scoring outburst

ROCK HILL, S.C. (March 6, 2024) – Five different players produced five-point games, including a pair of five-goal scorers as Stonehill College racked up a Division I program-best goal total in a 26-19 triumph over Winthrop University in a non-conference women's lacrosse matchup at Eagle Field this afternoon.

Sophomore Emily LaPia scored a career-high five goals, including a pair in the third quarter when Stonehill stretched its lead to nine goals on three occasions in the frame, and career-best eight draw controls with two ground balls. Classmate Grace Murphy matched her career-high with five goals, while seniors Molly Mae Hughes and Lilly Leach both recorded four goals and an assist for five points, with Leach collecting 11 draw controls and two caused turnovers to her career-high goal and point totals.

Sophomore Natalie Coutu rounded out the five-point Skyhawks with two goals and three assists, collecting five ground balls, while classmate Gabriella Parisi chipped in with a career-best three goals. Senior Claire Smith finished with four saves in the Stonehill goal, collecting three ground balls and a cause turnover.

Senior Katie Witmer paced the Winthrop attack with a game-high six goals, adding three ground balls, two draw controls and a caused turnover. Senior Lexi Johnson added four goals, four ground balls, three draws and four caused turnovers for the Eagles, while classmate Ellie Dutton tallied four points with three goals and an assist. Freshman Mikaylah Lindsay made five second half saves in goal for Winthrop, yielding nine goals, in relief of sophomore Emma Calhoun who made three stops in the first half.

Leach added career-high matching totals of four goals and five points, collecting 11 draws (PHOTO BY Andrew Katsampes)

How it Happened

• Winthrop struck for two goals from Dutton and Witmer in the opening two minutes of the contest before Stonehill responded with goals from Leach and Coutu to draw even just past five minutes in.
• Witmer added her second 45-seconds after Coutu's equalizer to push Winthrop back in front with 9:11 left in the first quarter, but Leach answered with her second only nine seconds later and then LaPia scored her first of the day to give Stonehill its first lead (4-3) with 8:37 remaining in the frame.
• The teams traded goals over the next five minutes before Stonehill strung together a three-goal run from three difference goal scorers to grab a three-goal lead (9-6) after LaPia's second goal of the quarter with 48-seconds left.
• Senior Claire Witmer capped the first quarter scoring for Winthrop and then assisted on sophomore Scarlet Cifarelli's goal 31-seconds into the second to pull the Eagles back within a goal (9-8).
• Stonehill used a six-goal run through the middle third of the second quarter to open a seven goal lead (16-9) after Hughes' third marker of the frame with 4:30 to play before halftime. Murphy also scored a pair of goals for the Skyhawks during the run.
• Stonehill carried a six-goal lead (17-11) into halftime and Parisi netted consecutive goals on either side of the intermission to spark a four goal Skyhawks run wrapped around halftime to stretch their lead to nine goals (20-11) for the first time after LaPia's third goal of the game less than three minutes into the third quarter.
• The teams traded goals for most of the remainder of the third, but Winthrop was able to slice into the Stonehill lead and trailed by seven (23-16) after Cifarelli's second of the game with 28-seconds to play in the third.
• Murphy and junior Sofia D'Agostino scored to restore Stonehill's nine goal cushion (25-16) over the opening five minutes of the fourth, which proved to be enough cover for a three-goal Winthrop run, including a pair of goals from Katie Witmer, over the final nine minutes.

Noteworthy

• Stonehill's 26 goals are its most in the program's NCAA Division I era, surpassing the 24 goals it scored in a 24-5 Northeast Conference win over Howard University in Easton on April 15, 2023. It's the Skyhawks highest goal total since a 26-10 victory over Southern New Hampshire University on April 18, 2012.
• LaPia's career-best five goal outburst nearly matched her career goal total (7) prior to the game.
• Leach has double-figure draw controls for the second-straight game and ninth time in her career overall, matching her career-high goal total for the second-straight game as well.
• Murphy has scored three-plus goals in all five games for Stonehill this season, including four-straight with four plus goals.
• Hughes has multiple goals in two-straight games and four of Stonehill's five games overall this season, scoring four-plus goals three times.
• Coutu has multiple goals in four-straight games and multiple assists in all five games. She has totaled four-plus points in all five games.
• Parisi's career-high three goals are the second multi-goal game of her collegiate career.

Up Next

Stonehill (3-2, 2-0 NEC) is off until it returns to Northeast Conference play on Saturday, March 16, at former Northeast-10 Conference rival Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, at noon. 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. Winthrop (0-5, 0-0 Big South) visits University of California on Sunday at 3 p.m.

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