Skyhawks match NEC Tournament record for goals behind six points from Hughes and Murphy's five goals to advance to Thursday's NEC Semifinals

NEC Women's Lacrosse Tournament Information

NEC Women's Lacrosse First Round Roundup

Murphy scored a team-high five goals for the Skyhawks, reaching the 50-goal mark for the season (PHOTO BY Andy Ferreira, '99)

EASTON, Mass. (April 28, 2024) – Fourth-seeded Stonehill College outscored fifth-seeded Saint Francis University 11-1 over a 20-minute stretched that spanned the final five minutes of the first quarter through the second minute of the third to wipe away an early deficit on its way to a 19-14 triumph in first round action of the 2024 Northeast Conference Women's Lacrosse Tournament on Timothy J. Coughlin, '80 Memorial Field at W.B. Mason Stadium this afternoon.

Stonehill (9-8, 7-3 NEC) advances to next weekend's NEC Championship Round, hosted by top-seeded Sacred Heart University, where it will face No. 2-seeded Long Island University (9-7, 9-1 NEC) at Campus Field in Fairfield, Connecticut, on Thursday at 4 p.m. LIU earned a first round bye as one of the top two seeds, along with top-seeded and host Sacred Heart (10-5, 9-1 NEC) who will face No. 6 Wagner College (6-10, 5-5 NEC) who slipped past No. 3 Le Moyne College (9-9, 8-2 NEC) in today's other first round matchup. Saint Francis sees its season end with an 8-8 record overall, including 7-3 in the NEC, making its second-straight trip to the postseason.

Hughes led the Skyhawks with six points, scoring four goals and adding two assists (PHOTO BY Andy Ferreira, '99)

Senior Molly Mae Hughes led Stonehill's NEC Tournament record matching goal total with six points by scoring four goals and adding a pair of assists to go with three draw controls. Sophomore Grace Murphy scored a team-high five goals, while senior Lilly Leach netted four goals with ten draw controls. Leach's ten draws give her 318 in 55 career games, breaking the program's career record of 313 by Kelsey Reilly, '13, while her NEC-leading 131 draw controls this season ranks third on the program's all-time single-season list.

Sophomore Natalie Coutu contributed four points for Stonehill with three goals and an assist, with a career-high six ground balls, while junior Sofia D'Agostino chipped in three goals, six draw controls, two caused turnovers and two ground balls. Senior Claire Smith finished with eight saves and three ground balls in the Stonehill goal, while junior Taylor Coughlin registered 11 saves in the Saint Francis goal.

Sophomore Bella Fisher had a hand in ten of Saint Francis' 14 goals with six goals and four assists, adding seven draw controls, four ground balls and a caused turnover. She matched the NEC Tournament record for points in a game set by Quinnipiac University's Lauren Matusczak in 2011. Postgrad Lizzie Fisher and junior Victoria DiRenno each scored two goals for the Red Flash, with DiRenno also collecting three draws and a ground ball. Senior Danielle Hernandez contributed a goal and two assists.

How it Happened

• Saint Francis, who was at the short end of a 19-7 setback to Stonehill here at W.B. Mason Stadium in the regular season matchup between the two, got off to a fast start, scoring the first six goals over the first ten minutes of the contest, including three from Bella Fisher, who also dished an assist, while Hernandez chipped in a goal and assist for the Red Flash.
• Lizzie Fisher opened the scoring off a pass from Hernandez 1:33 into the contest after Saint Francis bled nearly all the 90-second shot clock before scoring.
• Bella Fisher figured in the next four Red Flash goals over a five-minute span, scoring two-straight within a span of 3:31, before setting up a Hernandez goal with 7:59 remaining in the opening quarter, and then capping the stretch with her third goal of the day with 7:01 left.
• DiRenno extended the Saint Francis lead to six goals with a free-position goal with 5:17 to play in the quarter before Murphy broke up the run and put Stonehill on the scoreboard with 4:38 left in the frame.

• Leach added four goals and collected ten draw controls, including the school-record 314th of her career (PHOTO BY Andy Ferreira, '99)

  Murphy added a second 57-seconds into the second quarter and the Skyhawks would extend their run to seven goals to grab the lead after Leach's second goal of the span with 8:29 to go before halftime. Hughes contributed two goals and an assist during the stretch for the Skyhawks.
• Junior Nancy Alden knotted the game at 7-7 off a pass from Hernandez with 4:29 to play before halftime, but Stonehill followed with three goals over the final 3:49 of the half to take a three-goal lead (10-7) into halftime after Murphy's third goal of the half.
• D'Agostino stretched the Stonehill run to 11-1 off a pass from Hughes 50-seconds into the second half for a four-goal cushion (11-7).
• Leach and Hughes scored goals in the last 2:43 of the third quarter to send Stonehill into the final frame with a five-goal lead (14-9) and then Coutu stretched the advantage to six (15-9) less than a minute unto the fourth.
• The teams traded the goals the remainder of the game as Stonehill was able to manage the game from there and clinch a spot in the NE10 Semifinals.

Noteworthy

• Stonehill is making its first appearance in the NEC Tournament in its first year of eligibility but won its fourth-straight conference tournament contest dating back to its Northeast-10 Conference Championship winning run in 2022.
• Stonehill matched the NEC Tournament record for goals in a game by Maryland Baltimore-County against Quinnipiac University in 1998 and matched by UMBC against Sacred Heart a year later.
• In addition to Leach breaking Stonehill's career draw control record and moving up to third on the single-season list, Stonehill's NEC-high 277 draws as a team is the seventh-highest single-season total in program history.
• Hughes' four goals marks her 14^th multi-goal game of the season, having scored four-plus goals eight times. Her NEC-leading 55 goals are nine shy of the NEC single-season mark of 64 by Katelyn Catanese of Mount Saint Mary's University in 2008, while her Conference-high 83 points are nine shy of the Conference mark of 92 by Jeanette Stott of Monmouth University in 2006.
• Hughes moved into ninth on Stonehill's career scoring list with 231 points in 60 career games, cracking the top ten for career goals with 149, while her 82 career assists also rank ninth.
• Murphy and Leach both joined Hughes with 50-goal seasons, finishing the game with 51 and 50, respectively. It marks the second time in three seasons Stonehill has featured three 50-goal scorers after doing so in 2022 as well.
• Murphy posted her 13^th multi-goal game of the season this afternoon with her eighth game with four-plus markers.
• Leach has scored four-plus goals in three-straight games and in four of the last five contests, giving her multiple goals in 12 games this season overall, including three-plus goals in nine games.
• Coutu's NEC-high 37 assists is tied for sixth on Stonehill's all-time single-season list with Brooke Rudden, '14. She posted her eighth multi-goal game of the year.
• Smith moved into a tie for seventh on Stonehill's career saves list with 237 along with Amanda McGeachy, '08, while Smith's 157 stops this season is tied for fifth all-time in program history along with Ashley Armstrong, '15's total from 2014.

Up Next

Stonehill will face LIU in the NEC Semifinals, hosted by Sacred Heart, on Thursday at 4 p.m. The NEC Championship game will be played on the Sacred Heart campus on Saturday, May 4, at 1 p.m. All NEC semifinals as well as the championship will be broadcast on ESPN+ and NEC Front Row.

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