Big Second Half Leads Southern Maine Women’s Lax Over Salem State
Salem, Mass., April 13, 2017 — Despite going into halftime with a 6–6 tie, the Salem State University women’s lacrosse team fell apart in the second half and lost to the visiting University of Southern Maine Huskies 19–9 on Alumni Field at Salem State University on Wednesday. The Vikings were in the mix up until there were about 16 minutes left in the game, at which point Southern Maine notched six straight goals to put the game out of reach.
“We were playing a solid game up until that point,” Salem State coach Stephanie Rouse said of the run. “We were executing and answering every time they put one in, but at the end of the day we just gave up too many.”
It wasn’t all bad news, as freshman midfielder Kaitlynn Palmer scored three goals for the Vikings in the loss, and senior midfielder Carolyn Woodin and sophomore attacker Chelsea Smith scored two goals apiece. Senior midfielder Katie Hart and junior attacker Courtney Smith each scored one goal.
On the other side, Aliza Jordan scored four goals to lead the way for Southern Maine, while Sam Campobasso had three goals and five assists.
After Southern Maine jumped out to an early 5–2 lead, the Vikings roared back with three straight goals (two from Palmer, one from Hart) to tie it up at 5–5. After Campobasso put the Huskies back in the lead with time running out in the first half, Woodin found the back of the net to send the teams into the break with a tie score, 6–6.
Although the Huskies retook the lead once again early in the second half, the Vikings did a good job of keeping themselves in the game at first. With the score at 8–6 in favor of Southern Maine, Palmer notched her hat-trick goal to pull within one. But the Huskies answered right back with two more of their own to keep Salem State at bay.
Courtney Smith added a goal for the Vikings to again try to cut into the deficit, but it was at that point that Southern Maine went on a 6–0 run over the next eight minutes to blow the game open, 16–8.
Salem State was able to add one more goal, but Southern Maine also added three to run away with the win.
The tough loss on the gray, dreary day has been symbolic of the shaky start to the season for Salem State, who is now 2–6 on the young season.
“It’s obviously not the way you want to start off, but we’re still working on things,” said Rouse. “We have a lot of young players who are starting to contribute, and getting them acclimated takes time.”
The Vikings will look to rebound on Saturday night at 7 p.m. with a road game against Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) foe Westfield State.
“It’ll be another tough matchup, as all of our conference games are,” said Rouse. “It would be great to get a win in-conference to kick this losing streak we’ve been on.”
UPDATE: Salem State fell to Westfield State, 14–1, on April 8. They are now 2–7 and will face off against Plymouth State at Alumni Field on Thursday, April 13 at 4 p.m.
