Huskies Host Eastern Connecticut on Saturday (3:00 p.m.)

            BRUNSWICK, Maine -- Junior Megan O'Connor (Concord, Mass./The Governors Academy) scored three goals and dished off two assists to help the fifth-ranked Bowdoin College Polar Bears post an 18-4 victory over the University of Southern Maine Huskies Thursday evening in non-conference women's lacrosse action at Ryan Field.

            The win was the fifth straight for the Polar Bears, and improved their overall record to 11-2 with two games remaining in the regular season.  The Huskies fall to 4-10 overall.

            In addition to O'Connor, five other Polar Bears scored multiple goals in the game.  Junior Emma Beecher (Morristown, N.J./Newark Academy) had two goals and two assists.  Classmate Lindsay Picard (New York, N.Y./Riverdale Country School), sophomores Brooke Bullington (Palo Alto, Calif./Menlo School) and Annie Glenn (Salt Lake City, Utah), and senior Clare McLaughlin (Warren, Vt./Joel Barlow) had two goals apiece.  Sophomore Kelsey Gallagher (Belle Mead, N.J./Deerfield Academy) handed out four assists.

            The Polar Bears used two goalies during the game.  Senior Isabel Sippel (Ridgewood, N.J.) started and made one save in the opening 22 minutes to earn her 11th win of the season.  Rookie Kayli Weiss (Longmont, Colo./Boulder) came on to play the final 38 minutes and stopped four shots.

            Junior Sarah Pelligrinelli (Southington, Conn.) had two goals for the Huskies.  Sophomores Lauren Lessard (Lewiston, Maine) and Heather Everett (Waterboro, Maine/Massabesic) had the other USM goals.  Junior goalie Caley Presby (Portland, Maine/Deering) made 14 saves.

            Bowdoin scored five goals in the opening seven minutes to take command.  McLaughlin opened the scoring at 26:58, followed by a pair of markers from Picard.  Beecher tallied her first goal of the game just 13 seconds after Picard to make it 4-0, and McLaughlin netted her second at 23:05 to give the Polar Bears a comfortable five-goal cushion.

            Everett got the Huskies on the board at 22:22, but the Polar Bears would score 10 unanswered markers to cruise into halftime with a 15-1 advantage.

            Southern Maine hosts Eastern Connecticut State University for a Little East Conference match on Saturday (3:00 p.m.).  Bowdoin travels to Wesleyan University on Saturday (12:00 p.m.) for a NESCAC game. 

-ble-