FAIRFIELD, Conn.— The Sacred Heart University women's lacrosse team closed out the 2023 regular season and finished with an undefeated 8-0 record in Northeast Conference play after an 11-8 win against Merrimack on Saturday.
Records:
Sacred Heart: 9-7, 8-0 NEC
Merrimack: 4-13, 3-5 NEC
Top Performers:
Emma Kittredge: 4 goals
Kelly Nolan: 2 goals
Maggie Araneo: 2 goals
Lydia Werlau: 1 goal 2 GBs
Goalies:
Lisa Martin (SHU): W, 7-2; 6 saves, 6 goals
Hayley Kowalczyk (MC): L, 3-12; 11 saves, 11 goals
Of Note
Merrimack took a 2-1 lead in the first seven minutes. Junior
Kelly Nolan flipped the ball into the net at the 7:24 mark, prompting a 3-0 run that gave Sacred Heart a 4-2 advantage.
The Warriors tied the game at the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the second.
Senior
Emma Kittredge tallied back-to-back goals, including one at the buzzer to give the Pioneers a two-point lead going into halftime, 7-5.
Merrimack narrowed the deficit to one point at the start of the third quarter. Kittredge kept SHU in front with the hat trick at the 7:49 mark. Four minutes later, first year
Emi Waldron picked up a ground ball on a Warriors' turnover and scored to give the Pioneers a 9-6 lead.
Merrimack climbed back within two to end the third quarter, but it was Nolan and graduate student
Lydia Werlau that recorded one goal apiece to ice the victory.
The Pioneers outshot the Warriors 31-17. SHU saw three players achieve milestones in their careers today. Graduate student
Claire McElhenny, the all-time Division I program leader in draw controls, notched a career-high 11 of SHU's 15 draw controls and surpassed the 200 in her career. McElhenny now leads the program with 208 all-time.
Werlau, the all-time goal scorer in the program, broke the program's Division I point record for the Pioneers. She now stands at 122 all-time.
Kittredge matched her career-high four goals and reached the 100th-point career mark.
Up Next
SHU will host the 2023 NEC Tournament as the No. 1 seed. The Pioneers face No. 4 Saint Francis on Thursday at 1 p.m.