MONKS OUTLAST PRIDE IN 18-16 SHOOTOUT

WESTON, Mass. – St. Joseph's College's Cassie Diplock (Augusta, Maine) scored six goals and added an assist, while her teammate Amelia Santos (Beverly, Mass.) scored four goals and recorded four assists as the Monks defeated host Regis College, 18-16, in a women's lacrosse shootout in Weston, Mass. on Thursday afternoon. The Monks improve to 5-3 overall, while the Pride drops to 6-4.

The game was a tightly contested back and forth battle as there were 10 ties and six lead changes in the game. The Monks outshot the Pride 44-30 and held a 53-45 advantage in groundballs. St. Joseph's also had more draw controls (19-17), while both teams were effective on clears as the Monks went 11-for-15 compared to the Pride's 15-for-25.

Grace Politis (Billerica, Mass.) gave the Pride their first lead of the day as she came from behind the net and took a contested shot to give Regis the 1-0 lead a mere 1:01 into the contest. Cassie Diplock took a long pass from midfield off the stick of Megan Cutter (Westbrook, Maine) and knotted the score at one goal apiece only six seconds later. The Monks grabbed a 2-1 lead when Amelia Santos found a cutting Erika Waterhouse (South Portland, Maine) before Teresa Busiek (Arlington, Mass.) entered the scoring column by going coast-to-coast to tie the game at two.

Santos and Diplock scored back-to-back goals to take a short lived 4-2 lead, as Politis, Busiek, and Sashae Walls (Everett, Mass.) netted three in-a-row to take a 5-4 lead for the Pride. Waterhouse and Santos answered with goals of their own before Alicia Powers (Milton, Mass.) scored her first career goal on a feed from Busiek to tie it at 6-all. Both teams traded goals over the final four minutes as the Monks took a 9-8 lead into the half.

Anneka Adame (San Diego, Calif.) and Kirstin McCombs (Lewiston, Maine) scored the first two goals of the second half to give the Monks their largest lead of the game at 11-8. Teresa Busiek and Grace Politis combined to erase the deficit over the next nine minutes as Busiek scored unassisted before Politis assisted on a Busiek tally followed by a Politis score of her own to make it 11-11.

At the 19:16 mark of the second half, Amelia Santos scored an unassisted goal to give St. Joseph's back the lead. Erika Waterhouse then found Cassie Diplock in front of the net to give the Monks another two-goal lead. As they had done all game, Regis responded as Katie Haidemenos (Warwick, R.I.) scored her first career goal, followed by a Lindsey Graver (Bellingham, Mass.) tally to tie the game again. Kirstin McCombs knifed through the Pride defense all the way from midfield en route to her third goal of the game that gave the Monks a short-lived 14-13 lead as Sashae Walls countered by running through the Monks defense and scoring to tie it again. Haley Nordmann (Springvale, Maine) scored on a curl from behind the net, but Busiek answered with a free position goal that made it 15-all headed into the final seven minutes of action.

Amelia Santos found an open Victoria Tenenbaum (Brunswick, Maine) in front of the net to take a late 16-15 lead and Santos later made it a two-goal cushion over a minute later with a shot across her body that found the back of the net. Grace Politis cut it to a one-goal game with a jumpshot that made it 17-16 with only 2:23 remaining, but the Regis offense was stymied, and following a turnover, Haley Nordmann made a pass across the field that found Diplock, who promptly netted her sixth of the game with only 28 second remaining and closed out Regis for an 18-16 win.

The Pride was led by six goals and two assists from Teresa Busiek, while Grace Politis scored five goals of her own and also added a pair of assists. The duo also had seven and six groundballs each, respectively, while Politis added a game-high 10 draw controls. Sashae Walls added two goals and six groundballs and Andrea Barbosa (Taunton, Mass.) scooped up six groundballs of her own. Meghan Ryan (Stow, Mass.) made 15 saves while allowing 18 goals in the setback.

The Monks were led by Amelia Santos' eight-point day with four goals and four assists. Cassie Diplock registered seven points on five goals and two assists, while adding four groundballs. Kirstin McCombs recorded a hat-trick and finished with seven groundballs. Macy Pagurko (Augusta, Maine) posted a game-high nine groundballs, while Erika Waterhouse and Megan Cutter added seven groundballs apiece in the win. Elizabeth Giacchino (Melrose, Mass.) and Haley Nason (Saco, Maine) each allowed eight goals and picked up five saves with Nason grabbing the win after taking over in the second half.

Regis looks to bounce back next Thursday night when the Pride takes on Wheelock College in a 7:30 p.m. contest. The Monks try to make it three-straight wins on Friday afternoon in a 1:00 p.m. matchup with St. Joseph's College of Connecticut.