BIDDEFORD — A big first half propelled the visiting Bridgewater State University women’s lacrosse team past University of New England 15-11 Friday afternoon.

Despite falling behind 2-0 fast, Bridgewater stormed back and went on a 7-0 run in a 10-minute span to gain control of the game. The Nor’easters battled throughout the match, but were unable to overcome the early deficit.

UNE coach Sue Estabrook felt her team’s energy may have been too high in the opening half.

“I think after we scored our first two goals, (Bridgewater) got a little crazy and we picked up on their energy. I think that happens because we are young … but we need to work past that and play our own game,” said Estabrook.

Bridgewater was led by Melissa Renauld with four goals, while the Nor’easters were led by Brooke Kelleher three.

UNE got on the board just 58 seconds into the game when Carly Sheehan fired a strike from short range. Two minutes later Davee fired a low shot in net, giving the Nor’easters a 2-0 lead.

Bridgewater got their first goal at the 23:37 mark when Melissa Renauld put a shot in the left side of the net, making the score 2-1.

The Bears would then receive six more goals in the following ten minutes. Bridgewater’s goal scorers in that span were Renauld, Alex King, Lauren Geary with one, and three from Marissa Yowell.

Although Bridgewater held the momentum, UNE never allowed the game to get out of hand. In the final 12 minutes of the first half, the Nor’easters received a goal from Paige St. George and two from Brooke Kelleher, while Elizabeth Ettridge and Brooke Buckner added points for the Bears to make the score 9-5 heading into halftime.

The Bears continued to impress in the second half. Less than two minutes into the period, King scored her second goal. Later at the 23:11 mark, Geary scored her second as well, giving the Bears a commanding 11-5 lead.

UNE’s Korrine Bohunsky responded just 29 seconds with a goal of her own, however the Bears would soon rattle off two more goals within four minutes from Renauld with her fourth and Ettridge with her second.

The Nor’easters continued to fight back by going on a 5-1 run late in the second.

At the 15:10 mark, Davee scored her second goal and with 7:27 remaining Kimberly Gosselin chipped in another to make the score 14-8. Less than a minute later, Kelleher scored her third goal and with 2:24 remaining Bohunsky scored her second goal to make it 14-10.

Marissa Yowell scored Bridgewater’s final point with 2:07 left and UNE’s final point was scored by Jolena Lampron with 49 seconds remaining.

Despite the loss, Estabrook was pleased with her team’s strong finish.

“We just told ourselves that we were going to believe in ourselves, play our game and play as a team. It’s unfortunate to get the loss, but it was nice to see us work through some things and have a little bit of fight there at the end,” said Estabrook.

Looking ahead to Castleton, Estabrook and her team plan to make adjustments.

“We’re going to take it one step at a time. Hopefully we will be able to go out there and put up a better fight and work on some of the changes we’ve made on the field,” said Estabrook.

The loss drops UNE to 2-3, while Bridgewater improves to 3-0.

— Sports Staff Writer Alex Sponseller can be reached at [email protected] or at 282-1535 ext. 323.