The New Haven women’s lacrosse team got off to a hot start on Wednesday night with a dominant 14-9 win over Molloy University. New Haven did not trail at any point of the game, scoring nine goals in the first half to secure the win.

New Haven struck first on a goal by sophomore attacker Raegan Bailey, set up by a ground ball pickup by midfielder Ivanna Hernandez. Bailey is coming off a freshman season where she scored 65 goals – the second most in the Northeast-10 (NE-10) – and was named to the All-Conference third team and conference Rookie of the Year.

Molloy was under heavy pressure to start the game after allowing two goals on four shots in the initial five minutes of the first quarter. They would make it a one-goal game after a score by attacker Megan Rugolo, continuing to apply pressure to New Haven with four shots, three of which were saved by goalkeeper Gabby Buscemi.

After a successful clear attempt for New Haven, they added to their lead with a goal by midfielder Gianna Caprioli. Neither team managed a score in the final six minutes of the quarter as New Haven’s defense forced three turnovers to keep Molloy off the board.

Molloy tied the game twice in the early minutes of the second quarter; taking advantage of free-position attempts to bring themselves back in the game.

Bailey fired a shot past Molloy goalkeeper Mary-Kate Sweeney for the third of her game-high six goals to give New Haven the lead. This attack was followed by two more goals from Caprioli and Hernandez to open up a 7-4 lead.

New Haven closed out the first half with a 9-5 advantage after a pair of goals from Hernandez and Bailey to end a dominant second quarter in which they scored six goals.

The second half continued to be a great offensive showing for the Chargers. Attacker Caitlin Seleny tallied her first career goal and Bailey added another free position shot, bringing their lead to 12-6.

After holding Molloy to just two goals in the third quarter, New Haven’s defense continued to stand tall. Buscemi tallied two saves in the final minutes to maintain a five-goal lead going into the fourth quarter.

Facing a huge deficit, Molloy couldn’t generate enough offensive power to bring themselves back in the game and only scored two goals in the fourth quarter. New Haven continued to dominate in all aspects as Bailey racked up her sixth goal with nine minutes remaining to seal the 14-9 win for the Chargers in their season opener.

New Haven will look to build on their big win in a road matchup against Franklin Pierce on Monday, March 6 at 7 p.m. in their first conference game of the season. More information can be found at newhavenchargers.com.