GORHAM, Maine – Junior Julia McKenna (Windham, Maine) scored twice in the span of 18 seconds to give the University of Southern Maine women's lacrosse team a 15-14 win over the UMass Dartmouth Corsairs on Saturday afternoon. McKenna finished the game with a team-leading five goals plus an assist and scored the game-winner with 2:41 left in regulation after tying the game on the Huskies' previous possession. The win is the first Little East Conference victory of the season for the Huskies.
 
The high-scoring affair featured UMass Dartmouth's Melanny Sanchez Alvarez scoring seven goals and adding five assists and her teammate Maddy Allen netting five goals. The Huskies were able to keep pace thanks to a career-high three points from sophomore Raegan Bechard (Augusta, Maine/Cony) off two goals and an assist and two-goal efforts from sixth-year senior Rachel Shanks (Naples, Maine/Lake Region), sophomore Elaina Hanselmann (Sanford, Maine) and junior Anna Byers (Milford, Ct./ Joseph A. Foran).
 
The Records:
Southern Maine: 5-5 (1-2 LEC)
UMass Dartmouth: 8-4 (1-2 LEC)
 
Series History:
Southern Maine and UMass Dartmouth have now played 30 times with the Huskies holding a 17-13 lead in the series. The Huskies have now won each of the last six games in the series.
 
The Goaltenders:
UMass Dartmouth: Kelsie Couto (8-4), 60:00, 15 goals allowed, nine saves
Southern Maine: Lydia Laslavic (2-0), 60:00, 14 goals allowed, five saves
 
How It Happened:

• Bechard, McKenna and Byers each scored twice in a 7-3 first quarter for the Huskies. Shanks also scored in the period. The Corsairs had goals from Hannah Mitus, Allen and Jennifer Lins with Sanchez Alvarez assisting on two of the goals.
• The second quarter saw a reversal of fortunes as the Corsairs overcame a 9-4 deficit with five unanswered goals over the final 11 minutes of the half. Sanchez Alvarez set up Allen to make the score 9-5 and then proceeded to score the next four goals, netting the tying goal with less than a minute remaining in the half.
• The action slowed down in the third quarter as the teams combined for just three goals. Allen scored once again to give UMass Dartmouth a 10-9 lead in the first minute of the new half. The visitors remained ahead until an up-goal by Shanks tied the game once more with 8:38 left in the quarter. Sanchez Alvarez then scored another goal to give the Corsairs an 11-10 lead heading into the final quarter. UMass Dartmouth won all four draw controls in the quarter.
• Sanchez Alvarez extended her team's lead to 12-10 in the first few minutes of the fourth, but the Huskies closed to the gap to a goal when freshman Eliza Pattershall (Readfield, Maine/ Maranacook) successfully converted a free-position attempt for the first goal of her career with 10:36 left to play. The Huskies then tied the game on a free-position goal by Hanselmann and went ahead 13-12 when McKenna scored on a free-position attempt with 7:48 left.
• Allen tied the game at 13-13 about two minutes later before Sanchez Alvarez gave the Corsairs the lead at 14-13 1:12 later with just under 4:30 left on the game clock. Pattershall won the draw control following the goal to secure possession for the Huskies and fired a shot wide. Senior Kiaya Gatchell (Portland, Maine/Deering) then found McKenna with a pass and McKenna charged through the Corsairs' defense and ripped the game-tying goal with 2:59 to go.
• The ensuing draw control was won by the Huskies with senior Catriona Gould (Freeport, Maine) scooping up the loose ball and skipping a pass to McKenna. McKenna then blazed through the Corsairs defense once again and fired the ball past the UMass Dartmouth goalie to put the Huskies ahead.
• Gould secured another draw control to allow the Huskies to run down the clock before an overthrown pass gave the Corsairs the ball with a chance to run down the field. A lobbed shot by Allen went wide with 36 seconds left and Laslavic denied Widline Thomas from short-range with 15 seconds left to secure the win for the Huskies.

 
Inside The Stats:

• The Huskies won seven of the nine draw controls in the final quarter to ensure possession at key moments in the game. Pattershall, who came off the bench in the second half for the Huskies, had three draw controls in the quarter. The Corsairs led 17-16 overall with Allen leading all players with nine. Gould and senior Paige Rinaldi (Freeport, Maine) each had five for the Huskies.
• Rinaldi had a game-high three caused turnovers.
• Sophomore Molly Black (Windham, Maine) also scored for the Huskies.
• Five of the Huskies' goals came on free-position shots. The Corsairs scored on one of their two free-position shots.
• Shanks had four ground balls for the Huskies.

 
Up Next:
The next game for Southern Maine will be on Tuesday at home against Plymouth State. The game is set to start at 4:00 pm.