GORHAM, Maine – Nine unanswered goals in the third quarter helped the University of Southern Maine Huskies' women's lacrosse team to a 17-7 win against UMass Dartmouth Corsairs on Tuesday evening in the quarterfinals of the 2025 Little East Conference Women's Lacrosse Championship Tournament. Junior Katelyn D'Appolonia (Yarmouth, Maine) led the Southern Maine offense with four goals and five assists for nine total points. Junior Cierra Hill (Pembroke, N.H./Pembroke Academy) had a hat trick and assisted on three goals to finish with six points. Senior Lydia Laslavic (Thomaston, Maine / Oceanside) made nine saves to earn the win.
 
The Huskies set a new program record for wins in a season with their 13th victory today. The previous record of 12 was set by the 2013 team that lost the LEC Championship Game and played in the ECAC Division III New England Championship Tournament.
 
Maddy Allen led the Corsairs with five goals, three of which were scored on free-position attempts.
 
 
The Records:
No. 6 UMass Dartmouth: 9-9 (3-5 LEC)
No. 3 Southern Maine: 13-5 (6-2 LEC)
 
Series History:
Today was the 32nd meeting between the Corsairs and Huskies. The Huskies lead the series 19-13. The two teams have now met in the conference tournament seven times with the Huskies leading the postseason series 4-3 thanks to today's win.
 
The Goaltenders:
UMass Dartmouth: Keira Bushey (9-9), 60:00, 17 goals allowed, 12 saves
Southern Maine: Lydia Laslavic (13-5), 60:00, seven goals allowed, nine saves
 
How It Happened:

• The Huskies got off to a quick start with a free-position goal by D'Appolonia 18 seconds in the first quarter. D'Appolonia then sent a pass to junior Maddie Kinney (Topsham, Maine/Mt. Ararat) to double the lead less than five minutes into the game. Claire Altshuler got the Corsairs on the board, but a goal by Hill extended the Huskies' lead to 3-1with D'Appolonia once again providing the assist. Allen made it a one-goal-game with 1:37 left in the quarter with a free-position goal.
• Back-to-back free-position goals by Allen gave the Corsairs their only lead of the game at 4-3 with 8:30 left in the second quarter. The Huskies were able to tie the game with just under seven minutes left on a goal by senior Anna Byers (Milford, Ct./ Joseph A. Foran) after fighting through traffic in front of the net. D'Appolonia was awarded a free-position attempt in the final minute of the half and charged forward to beat Bushey and give the Huskies a 5-4 lead going into halftime.
• Byers fought through the defense again to give the Huskies a 6-4 lead before D'Appolonia pushed the lead to 7-4 with an acrobatic behind-the-back goal while falling down. The Huskies then went on to score six goals in less than two minutes. Hill started the run by setting up a goal by sophomore Raegan Bechard (Augusta, Maine/Cony) and then scored one of her own. D'Appolonia picked up another assist on a goal by Byers. Senior Elaina Hanselmann (Sanford, Maine) then got in on the scoring before Kinney scored on a feed by D'Appolonia. Bechard then scored her second goal in the span of 1:56 on a pass from Kinney. The Huskies' ninth goal of the quarter came on a free-position shot by sophomore Eliza Pattershall (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook) with the Huskies up a woman.
• Each team scored three goals in the fourth quarter, but the deficit was too large for the Corsairs to overcome. D'Appolonia, Hanselmann and Hill had the fourth-quarter scores for the Huskies while Allen had two of UMass Dartmouth's goals and Adella Mabee scored the other.

• The Huskies led 19-9 in draw controls thanks to going 14-for-17 in the second half. D'Appolonia led the team with 10 draw controls followed by Pattershall with five. Allen had five to lead the Corsairs.
• The Huskies had a 29-16 advantage in shots on goal and a slight 18-16 lead in ground balls. Freshman Ella Scaggs (West Chesterfield, N.H./Keene) led the Huskies with four ground balls followed by junior Britney Hill (Pembroke, N.H./Pembroke Academy) with three. Scaggs also caused two turnovers.

 
Up Next:
The Huskies will now face No. 2 seed Western Connecticut State University in the LEC Semifinals on Thursday at 7:00 pm at WestConn.
 

-rwd-