MANCHESTER, N.H. – Sophomore Maeve Johnson (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) scored two late goals in the 4^th quarter to break a 7-7 tie and help the Bentley women's lacrosse team to a 9-8 victory at No. 23 ranked Saint Anselm on Wednesday night.

With the game tied 7-7, Johnson scored a women-up goal with 8:57 remaining to put the Falcons in front. Johnson then scored again just under two minutes later to give them a 9-7 lead.

Saint Anselm's Jenna Balboni scored on the next possession just 20 seconds later to make it a 9-8 game, but that was the final goal of the night.

The Hawks had four more possessions but turned it over each time. Freshman Kat Slattery (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) forced a turnover on their first possession after Balboni's goal.

After the teams traded possession three more times, Saint Anselm had it with 34 seconds left and called a timeout. But the Hawks turned it over on an errant pass and Bentley's Christine Fish (Slinglerlands, N.Y./Guilderland) scooped up the ground ball with 10 seconds remaining to secure the win.

Bentley jumped out to an early 3-0 lead with three goals in the opening six minutes of action. But Saint Anselm then outscored the Falcons 6-1 over the rest of the first half to lead 6-4 at halftime.

But after Saint Anselm's Isabella Stuzynski scored with 2:02 remaining in the 2^nd quarter, Bentley put the clamps on defensively. The Hawks did not score again until the 10:31 mark of the 4^th quarter, a stretch of almost 22 minutes of game time.

That allowed Bentley to climb back in front. Johnson scored at 13:36 of the 3^rd quarter and Sydney Lynch (Bedford, N.H./Bedford) netted a women-up goal at 7:11 of the 3^rd quarter to tie the game 6-6.

It took until the 4^th quarter, but Lynch put the Falcons back in front 7-6 with another women-up goal at the 12:56 mark, her third goal of the night.

Balboni tied it for Saint Anselm with an unassisted goal at 10:31. But then Johnson went to work for the Falcons with goals at 8:57 and 6:48, her 3^rd and 4^th goals of the game.

Falcons goalie Maya Rose (East Lyme, Conn./East Lyme) earned the win, while grad student Cara McCarthy (Salem, N.H./Central Catholic) pulled down a game-high six draw controls.

Bentley improved to 7-7 and 6-6 NE10 with the win. They will close out the regular season on Saturday at home against New Haven with a playoff spot still likely on the line.