St. Hilaire finishes with 51 Goals as Lax Season Ends

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The University of Saint Joseph lacrosse team concluded its 2016 season with a spirited effort in a 13-8 loss Saturday to Simmons College in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference game.

Simmons improved to 8-8 overall on the season and finished 5-4 in GNAC play; USJ ended 4-11 overall and 1-8 in the conference.

USJ freshman Rose St. Hilaire (West Hartford, Conn.) scored six goals and set a single-season school record by scoring 51 goals on the season. Her total broke the record of 46 set by Dayna Gambino last year.

The Blue Jays were excellent on the defensive end as sophomore goalkeeper Emily Bourassa (Bristol, Conn.) made 21 saves, including six on free position shots. Her season total of 185 saves extended her single-season school record. But USJ could not overcome a wide possession difference as Simmons had an 18-5 draw control advantage and had 18 turnovers to 28 for USJ which led to a 42-16 difference in shots.

Kasey Fries (Bridgewater, Mass.) scored four goals to lead Simmons. Missie Majewski (Northampton, Mass.) scored three times and Ashley Sheehan (North Attleboro, Mass.) and Kiera Kirkaldy (Middlebury, Verm.) scored twice apiece.

USJ broke on top with a goal from Hannah Lemek (Bristol, Conn.) and back-to-back goals from St. Hilaire, the second of which was her record-breaking 47th, gave the Blue Jays a 3-1 edge, 9:09 into the game. Simmons then took control with a five-goal goal run. Kirkaldy scored with 13:46 left in the first half to put the Sharks up for good at 4-3 and Fries capped the run at 6-3on a score with 10:04 left.

Mary Lam (Newington, Conn.) answered for the Blue Jays, but Simmons took an 8-4 lead into halftime and maintained at least a three-goal edge throughout the second half.