By Jim Fenton

HILTON HEAD, S.C. -- The Bridgewater State University lacrosse team opened a two-game spring break trip by improving to 5-1 on Tuesday afternoon.

Seven players scored at least two goals as the Bears defeated Husson University of Bangor, Maine, 21-12.

BSU had opened the season with four straight wins before losing at Southern Maine last week.

Senior Erin McIntyre (Tewksbury, Mass.) led the way with four goals while junior Meredith Sylvia (Dartmouth, Mass.) and senior Camryn Gonsalves (East Bridgewater, Mass.) added three each.

Scoring twice for the Bears were freshman Bailey Kelly (Whitman, Mass.), freshman Lizzy Deacon (Ambury, Mass.), senior Katy Shaw (Centerville, Mass.) and graduate student Riley Bina (Abington, Mass.).

Sophomore goalkeeper Gianna Scarpelli (Medford, Mass.), making her first start of the season, had three saves for BSU.

The Bears jumped to a 7-1 lead after one period, getting three goals in the opening 5:05 from freshman Sophia Fleurent (Fairhaven, Mass.), senior Melanie McClay (Plymouth, Mass.) and Sylvia.

After freshman Kate Boehmcke (Shelburne, Vt.) pulled Husson within 3-1, BSU closed the period with four straight goals from Kelly, Gonsalves, Sylvia and Deacon, whose score came with five second to go.

The Bears led, 11-7, at halftime after opening a 9-2 lead. Husson had six different goal scorers as it trimmed the deficit to 10-7 before McIntyre scored with five seconds left in the half.

BSU outscored Husson, 7-1, in the third quarter for an 18-8 lead.

After the Eagles moved within 11-8 on a goal by junior Averi Baker (Farmingdale, Maine) just 1:27 into the second half, the Bears scored seven goals in a row.

Kelly and Gonsalves had unassisted goals within 1:20 and Gonsalves, McIntyre and Bina scored within 3:27.

Bina added her second goal 2:07 later and Shaw finished the period with a goal with three seconds to go.

The Bears then scored the first three goals of the final period, two from McIntyre and one from junior Katie Lamothe (Dartmouth, Mass.), for a 21-8 lead.

Husson (1-4) finished the scoring with four straight goals in the last 8:16.

Baker led the Eagles with three goals while senior Emma Beegz (Lewiston, Maine) made three saves.

Bridgewater held a 38-19 shot advantage for the game while Husson finished with a slight edge in draw controls, 19-17. Boehmcke led all players with nine draw controls while Fleurent paced the Bears with a career-best eight draw controls.

The Bears were a perfect 3-for-3 on free position attempts and converted 13 of 15 clear attempts. The Eagles went 6-for-8 on the free position and 11 of 12 on clear attempts.

BSU plays on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. against Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham, which is 1-1.

Husson is idle until March 22 when it hosts Vermont State Lyndon.