SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts The Saint Anselm Hawks capitalized on seemingly every opportunity as they powered past the American International College women's lacrosse team by a score of 20-10 in a Northeast-10 Conference matchup at Abdow Field on Friday, March 23.

FAST FACTS:
Final Score:Saint Anselm 20, AIC 10
Location:Ronald J. Abdow Field, Springfield, Massachusetts
Records: AIC falls to 3-6 and 0-3 in the NE10, while the Hawks improve to 5-2 and 3-0 in conference play.

STATS LEADERS:
AIC:
Brittany Hutchison: Two goals, two assists
Devin Coulter: Three goals, four ground balls, two draw controls
Mikayla Demanche: Two goals, one assist, two draw controls
Brianna O'Brien: One goal, one assist, three ground balls, one caused turnover, four draw controls
Chelsea Davis: Loss (3-5), nine saves, one caused turnover, two ground balls

Saint Anselm:
Meaghan Sheehy: One goal, seven assists
Emma Palumbo: Six goals, two ground balls, five draw controls
Marta Versprille: Five goals, one assist, three caused turnovers, 10 draw controls
Erica Mattilla: Four goals, one assist, two ground balls
Zoie Cavotta: Win (5-2), 14 saves, five ground balls, two caused turnovers, one draw control

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The Yellow Jackets raced out to a 2-0 lead as freshman attacker Devin Coulter slipped home a goal from senior attacker Brittany Hutchison, and then junior midfielder Mikayla Demanche struck for a tally before the game was five minutes old.
• However, the Hawks tied the game less than a minute later with two goals in eight seconds; they took a lead inside of 90 seconds later and ultimately went on a 7-0 run that lasted nearly eight minutes.
• Junior midfielder Lauren Witherspoon broke the pattern with a beautiful goal, wrapping around the goal to score at 18:12.
• Saint Anselm controlled the stretch run, outscoring AIC 4-2 over the final 10:38; the Yellow Jackets saw goals from junior attacker Mary Bates and Hutchison but trailed 11 at the break.
• The second half was hardly better, with the Hawks adding to their lead twice in the first 1:17. Demanche added a second goal, but Saint Anselm had two responses to build the edge up further.
• The teams traded goals over the middle of the frame, with Hutchison and Coulter each scoring. Coulter than capped the hat trick on a man-up goal from Hutchison at 19:07, and on the subsequent draw, rookie attacker Brianna O'Brien won the ball and raced down the field to the cage and scored just 12 seconds later.
• However, the Hawks would score the last three of the game for the 20-10 final.

STOP, THIEF!:

• The Yellow Jackets caused a dozen turnovers in the game today, giving the team 109 on the season, more than all of last year when the squad had 93.
• This year's squad is already seventh all-time in program history in caused turnovers; the record was set in 2009 and tied in 2010 at 180 caused turnovers.

MORE HATS FLY:

• Coulter picked up her third hat trick of the season today, having scored three times against Post and Queens as well.
• At least one hat trick has been recorded by an AIC player in all eight games so far in 2018, and 14 hat tricks have been scored overall.
• The team is well ahead of the pace it set last year, which featured 23 hat tricks, including a team-best nine by now-assistant coach Riley Brennan '17.

UP NEXT:

• The Yellow Jackets head to the Elm City to visit Southern Connecticut State for another NE10 battle on Wednesday, March 30 at 4 p.m.

STAY CONNECTED:

• For more updates about the AIC women's lacrosse team, follow @AICwlax on Twitter and @AIC_womens_lacrosse onInstagram, and likeAIC Women's LacrosseonFacebook. For updates on all AIC Yellow Jackets teams, follow@AICAthleticsonTwitterandInstagram, and likeAIC Yellow JacketsonFacebook.