Women's Lacrosse escapes with important GNAC win over USJ

(New Haven, Conn.) The Rivier University Women's Lacrosse team got a late goal from sophomore Amanda Wickens (Tyngsboro, Mass.) as they earned an important Great Northeast Athletic Conference victory tonight, 16-15 over the University of Saint Joseph. The game was played in rainy conditions on the turf field at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Conn. With the win, Rivier improves to 4-7 overall and evens their GNAC record at 3-3. Saint Joseph falls to 3-4 on the season and is now 1-4 in the conference.

Wickens netted the game winner with 1:35 remaining in the contest as she took a pass from freshman Taylor Lirakis (Tewksbury, Mass.) and got it past the Blue Jay goaltender. It was Wickens' sixth goal of the game as she scored on six of 12 shots in the win.

Senior Savannah Neuwirt (Newton, N.H.) also recorded a multiple goal game with three tallies and an assist. Sophomore Shae O'Connell (Bridgewater, Mass.) matched Neuwirt with 3 goals and an assist while the Raiders got single goals from junior Paxton LaRocque (Londonderry, N.H.), Lirakis, sophomore Jane Farrell (Wilmington, Mass.) and senior Veronica Jones (West Chesterfield, N.H.).

Lirakis was the game's assist leader with four.

Junior goalkeeper Danielle Moran (San Diego, Calif.) stopped 13 of 28 shots for her third win of the season.

The Women's Lacrosse team will travel up to Standish, Maine for their next scheduled contest with Saint Joseph's College of Maine on Wednesday, April 8th. Game time is set for 7:30pm at Deering Memorial Stadium.