GORHAM, Maine – Freshmen Cierra Hill (Pembroke, N.H./Pembroke Academy) and Maddie Kinney (Topsham, Maine/ Mt. Ararat) each logged six points for the University of Southern Maine Huskies in a 16-5 victory over the UMass Dartmouth Corsairs in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Little East Conference Women's Lacrosse Tournament on Tuesday evening in Gorham. The Huskies advance to the semifinals where they will travel to Plymouth State on Thursday.
 
When and Where: May 2, 2023 – Gorham, Maine – Hannaford Field
 
The Records: #3 Southern Maine: 10-7, #6 UMass Dartmouth: 8-8
 
The Goalies: 
USM: Cece Racine: 10-7, five saves, five goals allowed, .500 save percentage
UMD: Payton Conceicao: 8-8, 13 saves, 16 goals allowed, .448 save percentage
 
How It Happened:

• Kinney opened the scoring 54 seconds into the contest with a goal off a feed from junior Kiaya Gatchell (Portland, Maine/Deering). The Corsairs then tied the game at 1-1 off a Melanny Sanchez Alvarez goal and then went ahead 2-1 when Natalia Agrelo scored on a free-position shot.
• The lead was shot-lived as Gatchell connected with senior Rachel Shanks (Naples, Maine/Lake Region) for the game-tying goal and junior Paige Rinaldi (Freeport, Maine) scored a down goal to give the Huskies a lead they would never relinquish.
• The Huskies outscored the Corsairs 4-0 to close the first quarter and added six more in the second before UMass Dartmouth got on the board again.
• In the third quarter Racine and Huskies shutout the Corsairs 3-0 with Racine making two saves and Hill causing a pair of turnovers.
• Each side scored twice in the fourth as the Huskies came away with a 16-5 win to advance to the LEC semifinals.

 
Inside The Stats:

• At six points apiece Hill and Kinney led all players.
• Shanks and sophomore Julia McKenna (Windham, Maine) each scored three goals for the Huskies.
• McKenna won 11 draw controls and the Huskies won the category 17-8
• With her 11 draw controls McKenna now has 106 on the season, breaking the program single-season record of 103 set by Rosie Forster in 2013.
• Gatchell finished with three assists.
• Sanchez Alvarez and Agrelo each scored twice for the Corsairs.
• Junior Jillian Nichols (Gorham, Maine) and sophomore Emily Cloutier (Brunswick, Maine) also scored goals.
• Freshman Molly Black (Windham, Maine) recorded an assist.
• Senior Maeve McGarrity (Scarborough, Maine/Cheverus), Hill and Gatchell each caused two turnovers.

 
Up Next: The Huskies will travel Plymouth State on Thursday for the semifinal round of the LEC Championship Tournament where they will be looking to avenge a 13-12 loss from earlier this season.