SPRINGFIELD, Mass. Junior Jessica Lawler (Mexico, N.Y.) collected a hat-trick to help lead American International College past Merrimack College, 10-8, in Northeast-10 women's lacrosse action this evening from Abdow Field.

The victory moves AIC to 8-6 on the year and 5-5 in the NE-10 while the loss drops the Warriors to 4-10 overall and 1-9 in conference play.

The eight wins for the Yellow Jackets is the most in the last six years, tying a program record for most wins in a season which was set during an 8-8 campaign in 2010.

The teams traded goals early before Merrimack needed just 10 seconds following a Yellow Jacket score to regain the lead as junior Hunter McCarthy (Avon, Conn.) collected her second of the game for the 2-1 edge at the 24:18 mark.

AIC responded from their scoring five straight as seniors Kelly Reilly (Corning, N.Y.), Erica McLean (Branford, Conn.) and Cheyenne Carden (Branford, Conn.) along with juniors Jessica Lawler (Mexico, N.Y.) and Stefanie Dufresne (Belchertown, Mass.) scored the goals for the Jackets who took the 6-2 lead at the 4:59 mark.

However, the Warriors responded scoring twice before the intermission for the 6-4 AIC lead at the break.

Merrimack continued to press and opened the scoring in the second half cutting the deficit to one before junior Riley Brennan (Wilbraham, Mass.) scored a pair of quick ones and freshman Mikayla Demanche (Rochester, Mass.) added a free-position goal at the 19:06 mark for the 9-5 lead.

The Warriors got one back just 26 ticks later, but Lawler tipped the hat-trick at 12:09 for the 10-6 score and even a pair of late Merrimack goals was not enough as AIC held on for the victory.

Junior Alexis Torosian (Hopkinton, Mass.) made just four saves, but improves to 8-6 on the season as the Jackets outshot the visitors 25-19 including 18-12 on target while winning the draw control battle 15-5.

Junior Sydney DeArmond (Westborough, Mass.) led the way with four ground balls on defense for AIC.

American International returns to action on Saturday as they travel to Southern New Hampshire for a 1 p.m. affair.