Women's Lacrosse: Marin, Surging Raiders Rush Past Blue Jays 19-6

Nashua – Junior Marin Owens (Brookline, N.H.) filled the statistics sheet racking up game highs of eight points, 12 groundballs, 11 draw controls, and chipped in with a pair of caused turnovers leading host Rivier past Saint Joseph's of Connecticut, 19-6 in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference matchup Saturday at Raider Field.

Amanda Barton (Pelham, N.H.) posted five goals and two assists adding five grounders and four draws for the winners, while Dzenana Omerovic (Revere, Mass.) chipped in with four scores and two helpers including a natural hat trick in the opening 3:41 of the contest. The suddenly surging Raiders won for the third time (3-7, 3-5 GNAC) after a 0-7 start and pulled into playoff contention in the process.

Ashley Leal (Tyngsboro, Mass.) posted three goals and two assists for the hosts, Senior Lauren Goodspeed (Merrimack, N.H.) and Stephanie Whalen (Litchfield, N.H.) picked up two markers apiece. Courtney Laperriere (Keene, N.H.) posted 10 stops in goal.

Hannah Lemek (Bristol, Conn.) led USJ (2-7, 0-7 GNAC) with three goals while Charlotte Eberhardt (Thomaston, Conn.) added two. Emily Bourassa (Bristol) posted seven stops in net.

Rivier visits new GNAC foe Regis on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. USJ travels to Mitchell for a non-league meeting on Monday at 5:00 p.m.

Rivier controlled the ground game by a two-to-one margin (34-17) on groundballs, and more than doubled up the Blue Jays on draw controls (18-9).

After Omerovic's hat trick to open the first stanza, Barton upped it to 4-0 in the ninth minute before USJ halved the advantage on goals from Annmarie Masayda (Watertown, Conn.) and Lemek.

But scores from Leal, Colleen Murphy (Hudson, N,H.) and Whalen closed the half giving Rivier a 7-2 lead at the break, and sparked an overall six-goal run that extended into the second half. Whalen, Leal and Barton extended the advantage to 10-2 with all three strikes coming within 39 seconds within the opening minute of the frame.

After Lemek's second cut things to 10-3 in the 35th, Rivier answered with another 4-0 run to put the game out of reach. A Goodspeed score was sandwiched by both of Owens' goals and Barton nabbed her third with 20:45 to go for a 14-3 advantage.

Barton would tack on her fourth and fifth down the stretch with Omerovic and Leal adding single scores.

Goodspeed, the only honored senior prior to the contest, appropriately closed the scoring with her second of the day with 1:46 left for the 20th of her career covering 60 games to date.