NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University women's lacrosse team had a tough day at Sabine Field Saturday afternoon, falling to Saint Joseph's College of Maine, 23-3, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contest.

With the loss, Norwich falls to 1-1 on the season and in league play, while Saint Joseph improves to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the GNAC.

Saint Joseph would get on the board early in the contest on a Kelsey Drumond (Lewiston, Maine) goal on a feed from Elyse Caiazzo (Scarborough, Maine) before the Cadets responded less than two minutes later as junior attack Larissa Gokey managed to find the back of the net to even up the score.

The Monks would score four unanswered goals, two coming off of Caiazzo, in a span of three minutes before Gokey scored her second goal of the game to snap the skid as the Cadets trailed 5-2 with 19:57 remaining in the first half. Saint Joseph would open the game wide open, scoring seven consecutive goals in the next seven minutes for the 12-2 score before senior midfielder Emma Smith (Patterson, N.Y.) shot the ball into the back of the net on a pass from Gokey to record NU's third and final goal of the contest.

The Monks would score once more for the 13-3 score at the break before adding on ten additional goals, all in the second period for the 23-3 victory.

Saint Joseph's Caiazzo would finish the day with a career-high six goals and an assist for the Monks, while Elizabeth Elcock (Westwood, Mass.) posted five points on a hat-trick and two assists. Junior Kat Gadbois (Scarborough, Maine) added four points on a hat-trick and an assists and collected a team-high seven groundballs with sophomore midfielder Jackie Wilson (Tiverton, R.I.) winning nine of the team's 18 draw controls on the day. Michelle Cunha (Enfield, Conn.) started in goal for the Monks and came up with a save in the four shots faced for her fourth win of the season.

Norwich goalkeeper Irene Okubo (Chicago, Ill.) started in goal and came up with 13 saves in the 26 shots faced and collected a team-high six groundballs, while junior Courtney Hudson (Burke, Va.) split time in between the pipes during the second half, collecting four saves and three groundballs on the day. Sophomore Chapel Guarnieri (Pepperell, Mass.) and Holly Lutz (Hamburg, N.J.) would come up with three draw controls each with Guarnieri forcing two caused turnovers on the day.

The Cadets will return to action on Monday, March 23 as they host Johnson State College for the 7 p.m. contest.