(03-21-09) WEST HAVEN, Conn. - Two days after returning home from a two-game stretch in Winter Park, Florida, the nationally-ranked No. 8 University of New Haven women's lacrosse team battled to an 11-7 win against Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) opponent Bentley University at Kayo Field. The Chargers stay perfect at 5-0, 3-0 NE-10 while the Falcons drop to 1-3, 0-1 NE-10.
New Haven jumped out to an early 3-0 lead before Bentley got on the board at the 13:56 mark. Charger goals by Brianna Kenworthy and Alexis Gabbe stretched the lead to 5-1, but the Falcons answered with a pair of goals to again cut the deficit to two, 5-3. With less than a minute remaining in the first half, Brigid Brady found a cutting Mallory Ferrandiz who put in the final goal of the half.
The two teams exchanged goals throughout the second half until freshman Sarah Magnone scored twice in less than a minute to put New Haven up 11-6 with just more than two minutes remaining in the game. Bentley answered with a free-position score on its next possession, but the Chargers controlled the ball for the last two minutes of the contest to take a four-point victory.
The Chargers finished 0-6 on free position shots and turned the ball over a season-high 28 times but took 31 shots compared to 21 for Bentley. New Haven finished with 12-of-20 draw controls and picked up 19 ground balls compared to 17 for the Falcons.
Freshman goalkeeper Maureen Spellman stopped 10 shots and picked up her fifth win of the season. Magnone led the team with four goals on six shots. Sophomore Ashley Ferrandiz finished with a game-high four assists, while Mallory Ferrandiz had a strong overall game, totaling two goals, one assist, five caused turnovers, five ground balls and two draw controls.
The Chargers return to action on Tuesday, March 24 when they take on American International College at 3:30 at Kayo Field.
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