COLCHESTER, Vt. – Junior Jenna Joseph (Longmeadow, Mass.) factored into six goals and classmate Claire Desilva (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) registered a career-best five assists in leading the No. 20 Assumption University women's lacrosse team to a convincing 16-2 victory over Saint Michael's in the Northeast-10 Conference opener for both institutions on Saturday afternoon at Duffy Field.

Assumption (3-2, NE10 1-0) outshot Saint Michael's 11-2 in the opening quarter and did not allow the Purple Knights to attempt a shot on target. Alison Foley (Walpole, Mass.) first found sophomore Olivia Catanzarite (East Longmeadow, Mass.) for the game's first goal less than two minutes into the contest before finishing a short pass from Joseph with just 1:10 on the clock to help give the Greyhounds a 2-0 lead after one quarter of play.

The visitors and particularly Foley continued to dominate in the second quarter, as the graduate student scored her second goal of the game at 13:18 before setting up senior Lauren Pickett (Sydney, Maine) for the team's fourth goal at the 7:47 mark. Joseph then scored two consecutive markers and three in the quarter overall, and the Greyhounds owned a commanding 9-0 advantage at recess.

Assumption came screaming out of the gates in the second half. Senior Lauren Jakobs (Naples, Maine), who took the initial draw which was won by Catanzarite, received a pass from Desilva through two defenders and was able to fire the ball home despite being knocked down on the play. The goal gave the Greyhounds a 10-goal advantage and kept the clock running.

After Desilva found Catanzarite for a marker with the Greyhounds playing up, Saint Michael's (1-3, NE10 0-1) finally got on the board when Catie Murphy converted a free position attempt. However, the initial deficit would be too much for the Purple Knights to overcome. Jakobs closed out the scoring by completing a hat trick with 2:38 left, and the Greyhounds ran away with the 14-goal win.

Joseph finished the game with four goals and two assists to go along with four draw controls for Assumption, which outplayed the Purple Knights in every facet of the game. The Greyhounds outshot the hosts 38-11, won 15 of the 20 draws, had a 17-14 advantage in ground balls, and had eight players combine to cause 10 turnovers.

Catanzarite and Jakobs each had hat tricks while finishing with three draw controls and three ground balls, respectively. Junior Isabella Jackson (Medway, Mass.), meanwhile, headlined the defensive effort with three caused turnovers to go along with two ground balls, and senior goalie Allie Collins (Natick, Mass.) made six saves in 45 minutes of action to earn the win between the pipes.

Saint Michael's (1-3, NE10 0-1) was offensively paced by Catie Murphy, who scored both of the team's goals in the losing effort. Goalie Hope Msumba stopped 13 shots in the loss.

Assumption will begin a two-game homestand when it next hosts Bentley on Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m.