WALTHAM, Mass. – Senior Kelsey Howard (Scarborough, Maine/Scarborough) led the offense with five goals as the 18^th ranked Bentley women's lacrosse team defeated Southern N.H. 16-7 on Saturday for its 6^th straight win.

Bentley, which came into the game tied for 4^th in the Northeast-10 with the Penmen, took over sole possession of that spot with a 6-3 conference record after starting its NE-10 slate with a 0-3 mark. They're behind 3^rd place New Haven (7-2 NE-10) by one game.

Howard also notched two assists for a career-high seven-point game. Senior Erin O'Connor (Longmeadow, Mass./Longmeadow) and junior Ciara Morley (Irvington, N.Y./Irvington) also had big games with three goals each, while midfielder Meredith Hart (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) was the fourth player to have multiple goals with two.

Junior goalkeeper Lauren Ochs (Rochester, N.Y./Irondequoit) made 11 saves to go along with a team-high five ground balls to earn the win.

The Falcons raced out to a 4-0 lead after nine-plus minutes. Howard scored the first two goals, and assisted on a goal by Hart during the opening run. Hart then assisted on a goal by Taylor Lunden (Agawam, Mass./Agawam) before Southern got on the board.

After Southern got to within 5-3 after a goal by freshman Kristen Wilder at the 11:17 mark, one of her three on the day, Bentley closed the half with four of five goals. Hannah Lindgren (Southborough, Mass./Algonquin) scored a man-up goal followed by Howard's 3^rd goal of the half. Following a Southern goal, O'Connor and Morley scored within the final 3:06 to give Bentley a 9-4 lead at the half.

Bentley scored the first four goals of the 2^nd half while they kept the Penmen off the scoreboard, which opened up a 13-4 lead with 13:15 remaining. Howard had back-to-back goals during the run. Southern's Alexa Bedell broke up the run with an unassisted goal, but O'Connor and Morley again scored back-to-back as the Falcons opened up their biggest lead of the game, 15-5 with 11:00 remaining.

Now 8-5 on the season, Bentley will go for its 7^th straight win Tuesday night when they host Franklin Pierce.