The American International College women's lacrosse team hopes a flip of the calendar to April will flip the team's fortunes as the Jackets host Bentley at 6 p.m. on the first of the month.
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LAST TIME OUT: A first-half hat trick from Riley Brennan put the Jackets up early, but a late run by the 13th-ranked Pace Setters allowed AIC's Northeast-10 rival to escape Springfield with an 11-6 win on March 29. After falling behind 2-0 early, Brennan netted a pair, bookending a tally by Stefanie Dufresne, to take a 3-2 lead just shy of the nine-minute mark. The teams traded goals from there, with Brennan capping her hat trick and Brittany Hutchison staking AIC to a 5-4 lead before a three-goal run to end the half put Pace up 7-5, and the visitors netted the first three of the next frame to pull away with the win.
Bentley stunned Saint Anselm 11-10 in overtime that same day, overcoming a three-goal second half deficit to win at home. Down 6-4 at the half, the Falcons fell behind 9-6 with 13:54 left in regulation before storming back, tying the game 9-9 after three straight goals, including the third of the game for Kathleen Gillespie. The Hawks retook the lead with 3:32 left, only for Bentley to draw even again 1:03 later on a free position bid by Ellie Shuman. That set up the extra frame, where Ciara Morley, who had earlier tied the game at 9-9, ended it with her second score of the game less than a minute into the extra session.
LAST TIME THEY MET: Down five with 20 minutes to play, the Yellow Jackets fought back to within one but could not find an equalizer, ultimately falling 10-8 to then-18th-ranked Bentley on April 2, 2016. With the score 7-2, the Jackets went on a four-goal run, as Brennan, Jessica Lawler, and Dufresne each scored, with the last of the trio tallying twice, in a span of just 3:49. Dufresne would ultimately end up scoring five goals, but the Falcons kept AIC at bay, answering the bell each time and scoring at 29:57 to hang on for the 10-8 win.
SCOUTING THE FALCONS: Hannah Lindgren leads Bentley with 10 goals in six games; Shuman is one behind her with nine in seven games. Gillespie's six and Morley's four round out the top goal scorers for the Falcons, who average just 5.3 goals per game as a team. Senior Lauren Ochs has posted a .393 save percentage and has a 2-5 record.
SAVE IT FOR LATER: Senior Alexis Torosian made 21 saves in the last outing, fourth-most in AIC's history for a single game. That put her in first in the NE10 with 74 saves on the season in seven games. In fact, the only keeper with more saves in the conference, men or women, is her counterpart at AIC, Matt Sayegh, who has stopped 165 shots in 11 games.
MILESTONE CHASING: Lawler reached 70 assists in the team's last matchup, putting her seven away from the career mark at AIC. She also has 89 goals, giving her a chance to reach triple digits. Brennan is even closer to the century mark for goals at 96. Meanwhile, Torosian has made 488 saves, putting her just a dozen away from 500.
NEXT UP: The Jackets hit the road Tuesday when they visit the New Haven Chargers at 4 p.m. for an NE10 tilt.
