Rotolo and Parent lead Penmen to 4th-straight NE-10 semifinal appearance

Boxscore 

MANCHESTER, N.H. (April 28, 2009) - Third-seeded Southern New Hampshire University ran out to an eight goal lead by halftime and made it stand over the final 30 minutes to post a 16-8 victory over sixth-seeded Franklin Pierce University in first round action of the 2009 Northeast-10 Conference women's lacrosse championships at Larkin Field tonight.

Southern New Hampshire (12-4, 8-2 NE-10) advances to the semifinal round of the NE-10 Tournament for the fourth-straight year and will face second-seeded and NE-10 regular season co-champions Stonehill College (10-5, 9-1 NE-10), the nine-time defending NE-10 Tournament champions, on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The semifinal and championship rounds will be hosted by top-seeded and NE-10 regular season co-champions University of New Haven (14-3, 9-1 NE-10).

Franklin Pierce (7-9, 4-6 NE-10) sees its most successful season in program history come to a close. The Ravens, making just their second NE-10 Tournament appearance and first since 2003, set a new program record for wins in a season and matched the program mark for Conference wins. 

Seniors Laura Rotolo (Waltham, Mass./Waltham), Libby Parent (Hinesburg, Vt./Champlain Valley Union) and Jennifer Parro (Ipswich, Mass./Ipswich) each totaled four points to lead Southern New Hampshire to victory. Rotolo led all scorers with four goals, while Parent contributed three goals and an assist. Parro added two goals and a game-high two assists and the Penmen also got two goals each from sophomore Sherry Darrell (Bow, N.H./Bow) and freshman Emily Mongeau (Westborough, Mass./Westborough).

Sophomore Lauren Stille (North Quincy, Mass./North Quincy) scored three goals and added an assist for four points for Franklin Pierce. She ends her season with 64 goals, second only in program history to her record total of 73 set during her freshman year, and she will head into her junior season just 14 shy of Courtney Boardman's career mark of 151 goals. Stille, who holds the program's career assist mark with 27, is now just nine points shy of Boardman's career record of 173.

Freshman Christine McKay (Norwood, Mass./Norwood) matched her season high with three goals for the Ravens, while sophomores Ashley Moirano (South Burlington, Vt./South Burlington) and Jordan Baillargeon (Westfield, Mass./Westfield) each chipped in with a goal.

Senior Katie Clark (Norwich, Conn./St. Bernard) made nine saves in goal for Southern New Hampshire, who finished with a 37-25 advantage in shots for the match - including a 23-11 margin in the first half. Freshman Jillian Bolduc (Atkinson, N.H./Timberlane) finished with 12 stops in goal for Franklin Pierce. She finished her first collegiate season with 218 saves - the third-highest single-season total in program history.

Southern New Hampshire scored the first four goals in the opening seven minutes of the contest en route to an 11-goal first half the Franklin Pierce would not be able to overcome. Parro collected assists on two of those Penmen markers to open the game. McKay and Baillargeon scored two of the next three goals to pull Franklin Pierce within three (5-2) with 18:10 left in the half.

SNHU responded with four more goals, two by Darrell, to open a seven goal cushion (9-2) with 9:04 left in the half. Stille followed with her first goal of the game for Franklin Pierce with 6:40 left before halftime, but the Penmen wrapped another four-goal run around halftime to break open a ten goal lead (13-3) after a Rotolo marker with 14:26 left in regulation.

Franklin Pierce made one last run, scoring three goals in less than two minutes to draw within seven (13-6) after McKay's second goal of the night with 10:27 remaining, but SNHU got goals from Parent and Mongeau to regain a nine goal lead (15-6) with 6:22 left and ice the victory.