Bulldogs return home for first time in two weeks, battle Red Flash, Friday at 4 p.m.

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University women's lacrosse team aims for its seventh-straight win and third-straight victory to start Northeast Conference play when it returns to Smithfield, first taking on Saint Francis University on Friday at 4:00 p.m.

The Bulldogs (8-3, 2-0 NEC) are 7-0 against the Red Flash (4-7, 1-1) in the all-time series, and have really held the upper hand over the last three seasons, outscoring SFU, 47-21. Senior attack Nicole Britton (Monmouth Beach, N.J.) paces the Bulldog players that have faced Saint Francis U previously with three goals and two assists in two matchups. Senior attacks Catlin Brown (San Diego, Calif.) and Christine Kelly (Farmingdale, N.Y.) and juniors Carly Cronin (Feeding Hills, Mass.) and Olivia Brooks (Auburn, N.Y.) each tallied a point in last year's 17-10 victory over the Red Flash.

Brown has tallied points in six-straight, and has four goals and three helpers in her last two outings. Junior mid Ali Cardinal (Schenectady, N.Y.) is currently riding a seven-game point streak and now has 10 goals and six helpers on the year. Britton has tallied points in every game this season and continues to be the leader, but she's been facilitating her teammates at an extremely high level of late, handing out 12 helpers over the last five games. The majority of those assists have set up goals for freshman Jess DeMeo (Mount Sinai, N.Y.) and junior Shannon Sullivan (Farmingdale, N.Y.). DeMeo has caged 12 goals in her last three contests, and Sullivan has had consecutive career outings with four goals and an assist against Mount St. Mary's on April 8 and a hat trick against Wagner on April 10.

The Red Flash defense will have to pay attention to a plethora of options on Friday. Saint Francis U allows 14 goals per game, the most in the NEC. Junior goalie Heather McKee has had her struggles, allowing a league-high 14.32 goals per game, but she has faced 266 shots this season. She has 70 saves this season, ranking third in the league, and turns away 6.36 shots per game, good for fourth in the conference. The defense in front of McKee has caused just 50 turnovers which is the fewest in the league.

Saint Francis has made up for its defensive struggles on the offensive end, as it possess the league's second-most prolific scoring unit at 12.27 goals per game. The Red Flash lead the NEC in assists per game (5.36), draw controls per contest (13.36) and points per outing (17.64).

SFU has been so successful offensively thanks to six 20+ point scorers, led by sophomore attack Sarah Mahon with 34 points on 23 goals and 11 assists. Junior mid Holly Lawrence has netted 27 goals this season (1 assist) to lead the team and she follows Mahon for the most points on the team. Sophomore attack Jessica Fischetti (18g, 9a) and sophomore mid Jessica Mazzur (17g, 9a) follow with 27 and 26 points, respectively. Senior attack Katie Schaaf has tallied 22 points this year on eight goals and a team-best 14 assists which is good for third-most in the NEC. Schaaf had two assists in last year's meeting against the Bulldogs. Lawrence had two scores, Fischetti registered a score and Mahon charted two points on a goal and an assist in that game.

Netminders Samantha Santeramo (Wantagh, N.Y.) and Daja Andrews (Lumberton, N.J.) split the first and second half, respectively, against the Red Flash last year, with the former making four stops on eight shots faced and the latter turning away three of the nine shots she faced. Santeramo has been seeing more time between the pipes of late for the Black and Gold, and she put forth her best performance of the year against Wagner in a rematch of the 2015 NEC championship game. Santeramo came up with 12 saves while allowing just four goals in a defensive battle on the road, improving her record in the crease to 7-1 this season.

Friday afternoon's matchup can be seen live on NECFrontRow.com and followed along via livestats at BryantBulldogs.com.