NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. - The Saint Michael's College women's lacrosse team received goals from seven players in an 11-10 victory against Merrimack College at Martone-Mejail Field during Northeast-10 Conference play on Wednesday. The Purple Knights earned their first win of the season and are now 1-4 overall and 1-3 in the league, as two losses were by one goal, while the Warriors slip to 3-5 and 1-4.

Senior Kim Liberty (Jericho, Vt./Mount Mansfield Union/Saint Lawrence) recorded her first college hat trick with three goals for Saint Michael's, while junior Steph Bonewald (New London, N.H./Proctor Academy) and sophomore Paige MacKinnon (Lowell, Mass./Lowell) both registered two goals, with Bonewald adding five draw controls. Senior Melissa Jaskiewicz (Kensington, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase) turned in one goal and two assists with four draw controls. Classmates Kate Boyer (Standish, Maine/Bonny Eagle) and Courtney Piper (Wolfeboro, N.H./Brewster Academy) and first-year Kealy Moyna (Yonkers, N.Y./The Ursuline School) each scored a goal. Junior Casey Curtin (Waltham, Mass./Ursuline Academy) played the second half and collected four saves for the win, while sophomore Grace Gunning (Norwell, Mass./Norwell) made three stops along with having four ground balls in the first half.

Junior Danielle Riley (West Point, N.Y./James I. O'Neil) and first-year Annette Ruggiero (Peabody, Mass./Bishop Fenwick) both scored twice for Merrimack, while senior Kelly Metzger (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull) notched one goal and three draw controls. Senior Christine Keenan (Byfield, Mass./Central Catholic) logged a goal and scooped up three ground balls. First-year Alexa Petzold (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) totaled seven saves.

MacKinnon scored for Saint Michael's just 1:03 into play before Moyna notched a free-position goal 1:43 later to give the visitors an early 2-0 lead. Merrimack then reeled off four consecutive goals during a 12:13 span, with Ruggiero scoring twice in the sequence. The Purple Knights responded with a pair of markers from Liberty, the first coming with 11:03 left after she weaved through the Warrior defense and flicked a shot over Petzold's left shoulder. Liberty registered another tally with 6:46 remaining in the half as Saint Michael's knotted the score at 4-4. The stalemate lasted only 40 seconds as first-year Hunter McCarthy (Avon, Conn./Avon) found the back of the net, followed by sophomore Meghan Wiseman (Arlington, Mass./Arlington), who scored with 3:24 remaining to give Merrimack a 6-4 advantage after the first half.

The Purple Knights wasted no time to even the score at 6-6 as Bonewald and MacKinnon both scored within the first minute of the second half. Two more Purple and Gold markers brought the score to an 8-6 margin as Boyer converted on a free-position shot at 20:37 followed by Bonewald's score off of a feed from junior Maggie Dougherty (Verona, N.J./Verona) just 59 seconds later. After a Merrimack marker at 17:35 made it a one-goal affair, Saint Michael's scored three straight to cap the 7-1 run thanks to Jaskiewicz's player-up goal at 13:10 and Liberty's hat trick tally 48 seconds later to give the visitors an 11-7 lead.

Merrimack staged a rally, with Keenan scoring at 9:39 and Riley cutting the margin to two goals with 4:38 remaining. After a Saint Michael's turnover with 26 seconds to go, Merrimack's upfield charge eventually resulted in a free-position shot that was converted by Riley with 0.8 seconds left on the clock as the Warriors were able to pull within an 11-10 score, but no closer.

The Purple Knights play again at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the No. 6 University of New Haven. New Haven qualified for last year's NCAA Tournament and is currently ranked sixth in the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) national poll.