WATERVILLE, Maine - Senior Emily Games became the Tufts University women's lacrosse program's all-time leader in goals scored while helping the Jumbos earn a 15-6 victory over Roger Williams University in the "Sweet 16" round of the NCAA Tournament at Colby College on Saturday.
RELATED: Box Score
Games scored six goals tonight and added an assist to lead the Jumbos (8-0), who advance to the "Elite 8" against TCNJ Sunday night at 6 p.m. Games now has 183 career goals, surpassing the 180 scored by Jenny Payette (1979-82) and Rebecca Black (1993-96).
Games scored five times with an assist as the Jumbos out-scored the Hawks 12-2 during the final 32 minutes of the contest to pull away for the victory. Colette Smith assisted four goals during that decisive run, while Caroline Sapir, Caroline Walter and Catherine Lawliss all scored twice for Tufts in that stretch.
Roger Williams (7-1) led for much of the first half, including 3-1 as late as the 10-minute mark with all three goals scored by Lauren Flahive. Games got her first and Sami Rothstein also scored for Tufts - both free-position goals - making it 3-3. Tufts would finish the game 7-for-11 on free-position attempts.
Flahive scored again at 3:16 of the first half for a 4-3 Hawks lead. However, that's when the tide turned. Games scored a free-position goal and assisted a goal by Anna Clarke 19 seconds later giving Tufts a 5-4 lead at intermission.
Hannah Goodwin made seven saves in the Roger Williams cage during the first half and the Hawks matched the Jumbos with five draw controls apiece for the opening 30 minutes. The Hawks scored the first goal of the second half off the stick of Lily Cunningham to tie the game at 5-5.
The Jumbos would net the next seven goals during an eight-minute stretch to take a 12-5 lead on a tally by Lawliss at 16:49. Games' goal at 19:34 of the second half was the record-breaking 181st of her career.
Julia Kelley broke up the Jumbo run at 11:01 making it 12-6, but that would be the last goal of the game for the Hawks. The Jumbos added three free-positon goals in the final 8:26 of action including two by Games. She currently has 183 goals ahd 65 assiss for 248 points in 66 career games (3.76 points per game).
The Jumbos won 9-of-13 draws in the second half and were led for the game by Emma Joyce's four and three by Walter. Becca Gable caused three turnovers defensively for Tufts while Molly Laliberty saved 10 out of 16 shots (.625) on goal.
Flahive added three ground balls and three caused turnovers to her four goals for Roger Williams, the Commonwealth Coast Conference champs whose season came to an end. Cunningham controlled three draws for the Hawks, Madi Drain finished with two GBs and two CTs and Goodwin made 16 saves in goal.
Shots finished at 35-22 for Tufts, who also won ground balls 16-12.
TCNJ was an 18-4 winner over Western Connecticut in their Sweet 16 game at Colby on Saturday. The Lions and the Jumbos will play tomorrow for a spot in the Final Four in Salem, Virginia May 22.
