SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Senior attack Jessica Mazliah (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem North) registered a team-high eight points to lead the No. 18 University of New Haven women's lacrosse team to a 19-8 win over Northeast-10 foe American International on Saturday night at Abdow Field. Mazliah's eight points came on four goals and four assists, with the four goals tying her season best.
Mazliah was one of seven Chargers who provided a score on the night with sophomore attack Caroline Maher (Mansfield, Mass./Mansfield) leading the way for the Blue and Gold with five goals, her sixth game of the season with at least a hat trick of scores and one goal shy of her career-high. In addition to Maher and Mazliah, two other players finished with a hat trick on the night with junior midfielder Mackenzie Reh (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue Medford) chipping in with four goals and sophomore attack Julia Jette (Franklin, Mass./Franklin) registering three tallies, while she closed out the night with five points total adding a pair of assists.
Junior attack Olivia Serpa (Succasunna, N.J./Roxbury) and sophomore attacks Kendra Nolan (Oak Ridge, N.J. /Jefferson Township ) and Kayla Pjatak (Shelton, Conn./Shelton) rounded out the Chargers scoring with one goal apiece. The goal for Pjatak was the first of her career. Between the pipes, sophomore Erica Rinsky (North Caldwell, N.J./West Essex) secured her second-straight complete game victory, stopping eight shots against the Yellow Jackets.
Overall, New Haven led the way with a 39-22 differential in the shots category, while also securing 19 of the 29 total draw controls, led by Reh who hauled in six. Nolan and Linton each followed her with five draw controls apiece.
After surrendering the first goal of the night, the Chargers rebounded by scoring the next two for the first and only lead change of the night. Mazliah opened up her four goal night early on when she tallied the first New Haven goal just over four minutes in the to the action. That unassisted goal was the first of two straight solo scoring efforts for New Haven as Jette followed that with score with her first, coming just 42 seconds after Mazliah's.
AIC would manage to tie the score at two before the Chargers took the lead for good with a three-goal run that spanned the next six minutes of action. The first two goals in that stretch came from Reh, the first unassisted before getting some help from Mazliah on the second. Mazliah would then drop in her second of the night on a free position attempt.
Despite the Yellow Jackets scoring two of the next three, sandwiching a goal from Jette, the Chargers didn't let up, beginning what would turn into a 10-goal rally that spanned the last seven minutes of the first half and the first 12 minutes of the second half, all resulting in a 16-4 lead for the visiting team. The first goal in that rally came from Serpa, while she was the first of six different players to score in that stretch, including Maher who scored all five of her team-leading goals during that run. Included in Maher's five goals were the final three of that run before AIC broke up the momentum with back-to-back scores of its own.
Pjatak would break up any thoughts of a rally from AIC as she connected with Mazliah for her first collegiate goal, which came with 12:13 remaining in the contest. Mazliah then capped off her night before Reh added New Haven's final goal of the night with 2:32 remaining.
The Chargers will return to action on Wednesday night with a quick stop back at Kathy Zolad Stadium for a date with the Southern New Hampshire Penmen. Opening draw in the NE10 battle is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
