BOSTON – The Norwich University women's lacrosse team held as much as a four-goal first half lead in its clash with Simmons College on Tuesday evening in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contest, but the Sharks bit back in the second half and embarked on a fast and furious comeback that would ultimately result a 11-10 Cadet defeat.

Junior midfielder Chapel Guarnieri (Pepperell, Mass.) had a productive night, scoring six goals to go along with the five ground balls, three draw controls and five caused turnovers. Freshman Kathryn Albretsen (Cotuit, Mass.) found the back of the net three times with four ground balls and four caused turnovers, while senior Larisaa Gokey (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) picked up a goal for the Cadets.

Senior Alexia Malone Oliver (Bristol, R.I.) and freshman Missie Maiewski (Northampton, Mass.) each recorded a hat-trick for Simmons, while five different Sharks each scored a goal in the win. Oliver would pick up a team-high four ground balls and forced three of the 15 turnovers tonight.

Norwich (6-8, 3-5 GNAC) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in just under two minutes of the first draw from Guarnieri and Albretsen, respectively. The Sharks would get on the board eight minutes later as Maiewski scored unassisted to make it a one-point game. The Cadets responded by scoring four straight, twice on extra player opportunities, for the 6-1 lead before Simmons (7-8, 4-4 GNAC) scored back-to-back goals to trail by three points. Norwich would score two more with Simmons getting a goal in between as both teams headed to the locker room with the Cadets in the lead, 8-4, at the half.

Guarnieri recorded her fifth goal of the night in just 40 seconds from the opening draw of the second half to give Norwich the 9-4 advantage. The Sharks woke up and scored five straight to make it 9-9 before score two more in the seven-goal run to take the 11-9 lead. The Cadets would cut the deficit to one on a Guarnieri goal with 4:40 remaining and peppered the Sharks' goal numerous time in the final minutes but none would land in the back of the net as time expired.

Freshman Kenzie Rogers (Bourne, Mass.) played all 60 minutes in between the pipes, converting 10 saves on 20 shots for the Sharks, while Norwich's netminder Janice Bolton (Stow, Mass.) recorded nine saves on 20 shots in goal.

The Sharks had a slight advantage at just about every aspect of the game, winning the ground ball (23-20), draw controls (12-11), and shots (30-24) battle, the Cadets went 3-of-6 on the free position attempts.

Norwich will wrap up the regular season with a conference game on the road at Saint Joseph's College of Maine on Saturday, April 30. Game time is set for 1 p.m.