Radcliffe Fades in Second Half; UNH Blasts Past Stickwomen

Radcliffe's lacrosse squad should petition to play two first halves or else think of some other way to avoid its habitual second-half fold. Tis sad but true that yet another excellent first half effort turned up naught in the end result, as a traditionally strong UNH team poured it on in the final stanza to walk away with a 9-3 win.

The 'Cliffe stickwomen seemed to turn their first-half magic into a second-half disappearing act as the 3-3 score early in the half quickly faded into a Wildcat rout.

Anne Johnson started the show off by converting a Monique Burns pass into a 1-0 Radcliffe lead. UNH quickly tied it up, but Burns got into the act again, this time on the scoring end with the assist going to Barb Matson.

Radcliffe's newly instituted zone defense quite successfully thwarted UNH throughout the first half, forcing the Granite staters to shoot from far out. Although New Hampshire did sneak by two more tallies before the half ended, to take a slim 3-2 lead, play was very even between the teams.

Captain Carlene Rhodes came out flying after the intermission and whipped a goal past the bedazzled UNH netminder at only 15 seconds into the period. At that point however, the Cliffe bowed out and UNH took command of the show.

The Wildcats utilized a wonderful "Ball, ball, who's got the ball?" passing attack to riddle the Radcliffe defense for six unanswered goals.

Coach Molly Quinby said yesterday. "Our zone defense held up very well in the first half but UNH is fast and their strong passing attack eventually best us."