History Made as Women’s Lacrosse Wins Inaugural Game, Downs Dean, 12-8

FRANKLIN, Mass. – It was a historic day for Ram Nation, not only did Suffolk women's lacrosse compete in its first collegiate contest in program history, but did so in winning fashion as the Rams topped Dean, 12-8, Saturday at Grant Field.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 12 | Dean 8
RECORDS: Suffolk (1-0) | Dean (0-1)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Rams had to fight back early on as the Bulldogs built a 3-0 edge early including back-to-back goals in the first 1:36 of action.  

A man-up, free-position shot by Julia Dickinson will go down in the Rams record book as the first goal in program history. That strike at the 3:40 mark cut the deficit down to a pair, 3-1, at the end of the first quarter. 

Dean quickly restored the three-goal gap to get the second stanza underway. Suffolk found its grove from there as it poured in three unanswered in a 3:30-span. Eliza Bryant and Lauren Woods were responsible for one goal apiece and Dickinson capped off the rally with her second tally of the day, which leveled the playing field at 4-all with 6:49 left before halftime.  

The Bulldogs sandwiched one goal around two more Suffolk strikes, Bryant's second of the afternoon and Victoria Wood's first, to send the teams into the locker room deadlocked at 6-all.  

Déjà vu carried into the third as Dean gained the upper hand first when Nina Medeiros converted a man-up free position shot.  

Suffolk answered with three unanswered goals of its own to go ahead 9-7 at the end of the third. Woods, Dickinson and Bryant all supplied a marker in that stretch.    

The Bulldogs carried on the tradition of scoring first in the fourth to slice the deficit down to one, 9-8. 

It was all blue-and-gold from there as Ally Colburn chipped in two goals and Woods completed her hat trick for the 12-8 final.  

GOALIE LOG

• Charlotte Guziejka turned aside 17 saves in the victory. 
• Allie Stockwell recorded 10 stops in the setback.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Dickinson registered three goals and two assists to anchor the offense with a pair of ground balls to her credit. 
• Bryant contributed three goals, three caused turnovers, one draw and one ground ball. 
• Woods tallied three goals, three draw controls, two ground balls and two caused turnovers.
• Colburn notched two goals, two assists and one ground ball. 
• Wood rounded out the Rams goal scorers with one strike to her credit. 
• Zoe Peckham and Jessie Le handed out one assist apiece. 
• Gracelyn Laperle scooped up three ground balls and caused one turnover. 
• Suffolk outshot Dean, 33-30. 
• The Rams went 1-for-2 on free position shots. 
• Dean edged out the blue-and-gold in draw controls, 15-9.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Saturday's contest marked the first-ever NCAA Division III women's lacrosse game in Suffolk University's history. 
• An addition almost two years in the making, it was announced June 5, 2023 that Suffolk was adding the sport. 
• Women's lacrosse became the 20th varsity team and 11th women's team at Suffolk University.
• It is the first varsity program added since the half dozen of women's golf, women's hockey and men's and women's indoor and outdoor track & field joined Ram Nation in 2015-16. 
• Bryant, Dickinson and Woods all had hat tricks.  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk is set to open its home slate Saturday, March 1 when it welcomes Purchase to East Boston Memorial Park's James A. Sartori Stadium for a 12:00 p.m. first draw.