By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's lacrosse team allowed eight straight goals in the third quarter in an 11-4 loss to the University of Southern Maine.
The Huskies (3-0) had trailed the Bears (1-3), 4-2, early in the third quarter before scoring the eight unanswered goals in a span of 7:53 at Mazzaferro Field.
BSU, which fell to 0-3 at home, received two goals from sophomore Sophia Fleurent (Fairhaven, Mass.), who has six this season. The Bears were held scoreless over the final 24-plus minutes.
Southern Maine graduate student Katelyn D'Appolonia (Yarmouth, Maine) had three goals and three assists while senior Cierra Hill (Pembroke, N.H.) had two goals and three assists.
The Bears held a 2-0 lead after the opening period with junior Erin Henn (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) scoring with 4:54 to go and Fleurent adding a goal with 2:52 remaining.
BSU was up, 3-2, at halftime with Fleurent scoring with 6:13 to go in the second period. The Huskies had goals from D'Appolonia with 7:48 remaining and senior Elaina Hanselmann (Sanford, Maine) with 4:11 to go.
Sophomore Lizzy Deacon (Amesbury, Mass.) scored her fifth goal of the season for the Bears 37 seconds into the second half for the 4-2 lead, but Southern Maine took over after that.
Junior Eliza Pattershall (Readfield, Maine) and D'Appolonia scored within 1:32 apart to pull even at 4-4 and D'Appolonia gave the Huskies their first lead with 6:25 left in the period.
Hill scored twice within 30 seconds for a 7-4 lead and freshman Mariam DeLisle (Whitefield, Maine) added a goal with 4:11 to go in the period.
Graduate student Anna Byers (Milford, Conn.) scored twice with 3:34 and 11:11 left in the period to boost the lead to 10-4.
Hanselmann made it 11-4 when she scored 2:57 into the final period.
BSU sophomore goalkeeper Sara Skaff (Lowell, Mass.) stopped 14 shots. Freshman Emma Morrison (Rockland, Maine) made one save for the Huskies.
Southern Maine had a 35-9 edge in shots and 25-5 in shots on goal. The Bears had 21 turnovers while the Huskies had nine.
BSU plays its next two games in Clearwater, Fla., going against Rochester Institute of Technology Tuesday at 10 a.m. and Washington College on Thursday at 10 a.m.
Southern Maine will host Colby on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.