WALTHAM, Mass. -- Sophomore Meghan Talerman scored her sixth and seven goals of the season, and senior co-captain Melissa Martorelli recorded a pair of defensive saves, as Bentley held off American International 3-1 in Northeast-10 Conference play Friday evening.
Bentley, ranked 10th in Division II, improved to 9-5 overall and evened its conference record at 3-3. AIC fell to 7-7 overall and 2-4 conference after losing to the Falcons for the second time.
Both teams were on the scoreboard before the game was 10 minutes old. Senior Courtney Williams scored for the visitors 25 seconds after the opening whistle, and Bentley sophomore Kelsey Howard answered 8:33 into the contest, scoring on a second-chance shot. It was her first of the season as she became the 13th different Falcon to put the ball in the net this fall.
Four minutes later, Talerman netted what proved to be the game-winner after redirecting a pass from outside by junior Gina Lirange.
AIC dominated play in the second half (11-1 in shots, 6-0 in penalty corners), but it was Bentley that had the only goal post-intermission. Talerman intercepted a pass at about the 30, dribbled it to just inside the circle and blasted it into the lower right corner of the cage with 19:20 left to play.
Prior to Talerman's second, Martorelli helped preserve the 2-1 lead with a pair of defensive saves, one in each half.
Bentley sophomore goalie Katie Kelley finished with six saves, all but one coming in the second half, and blanked the Yellow Jackets during the final 69-plus minutes. Senior Kori Huffman made a pair of first-half saves for AIC.
Overall, AIC finished with a 14-8 advantage in shots and twice as many penalty corners, 6-3.
