GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Saint Mary's lacrosse team scored the first three goals of the game and never trailed en route to a 20-10 win over Aquinas on Friday night.

 

The Belles turned early defense into offense as Erin Doyle buried a shot off of a pass from Kendra Osinski 1:31 into the game. Molly Mullett won the next two draw controls, and Saint Mary's scored almost immediately on both possessions with Bridget Kane scoring off of a pass from Shannon McCloskey before McCloskey sent home a goal ten seconds later with Doyle picking up an assist. The host Saints responded with back-to-back goals in a 14-second span at 26:16 and 26:02, but the Belles capitalized on a yellow card against Aquinas with a player-up goal two and a half minutes later to start a big scoring run. A strong re-defend a minute later led to another goal by Doyle as Saint Mary's pulled ahead 5-2.

 

Katie Haas, Molly Mullett, and Erin Doyle had two goals apiece over the next six minutes of action as that lead expanded to 10-2. McCloskey netted her second goal of the game to put the Belles up 12-2 to implement the running clock with 15:57 still remaining in the first period, and Doyle added to the lead with a goal three minutes later.

 

The Saints cut the deficit below ten goals almost four minutes later and added two more goals to make it a 13-5. Molly Mullet won the next draw and immediately found Erin Doyle at the edge of the draw circle. Doyle raced up-field and sent home a goal with 24 seconds remaining to give Saint Mary's some momentum heading into the halftime break.

 

The two teams traded goals back and forth over the first seven minutes of the second period with Doyle and Haas each adding a goal to their individual totals to make it a 16-7 game. Doyle then picked off a pass deep in the Aquinas defensive end and found a wide-open Katie Haas in front of the goal to put the Belles ahead 17-7 with 21:51 remaining. Bridget Kane added to the lead five minutes later, and Saint Mary's held at least a ten-goal advantage over the final 15-plus minutes of play. Kendra Osinski and Erin Doyle tallied one more goal apiece on the way to the 20-10 win.

 

Saint Mary's out-shot Aquinas by a 47-13 margin, and the Belles had a 28-23 advantage in ground balls on the night.

 

Erin Doyle matched her program record with 12 points as the junior led all players with eight goals and four assists. Doyle posted five draw controls and picked up a team-best six ground balls. Katie Haas scored a season-best four goals and collected three ground balls. Molly Mullett added her first collegiate hat trick with three goals as the freshman posted two assists and had the second-highest single-game draw control total in program history with 16. Shannon McCloskey posted two goals, an assist, and four ground balls. Bridget Kane tallied two goals, two draw controls, and two ground balls. Kendra Osinski added a goal, two assists, and a ground ball on the night.

 

The Belles (1-3) travel to Texas for the College's spring break and will face Southwestern University on Sunday, March 8 at 12:00 p.m. CDT.