EASTON, Mass. -- Freshman attacker Patience Baldwin (Baltimore, Md.) netted a hat trick and an assist to lead eight Pioneer scorers as the University of Denver held off a late Stonehill College rally to post an 11-9 women's lacrosse win Monday afternoon at Chieftain Stadium.

The Pioneers (2-9) snapped an eight-game slide by jumping out to a 5-1 lead 13:38 into the match, as Baldwin contributed a pair of free-position shot goals to the visitors' cause. The Division II Lady Chieftains (10-6) cut their deficit to 5-3 on goals by Ann Signorella and Amy Bartlett that came 1:11 apart, but Denver responded by scoring three of the final four goals of the half to take an 8-4 advantage at the break.

The Pioneers extended their lead to 11-5 with just under 18 minutes to play in the contest on a marker by sophomore attacker Kalli Green (Carmel, Calif.), and Stonehill began its comeback with three goals in a 2:42 span by Signorella, Melissa Gross and Michelle Parent to slice the deficit to 11-8. Stonehill had several chances in the closing minutes but was denied by Denver junior goalie Sarah Hazard (Owings Mills, Md.), who made two point-blank saves -- amid a total of 11 ? to preserve the victory.

Freshman attacker Noemi Hites (Pleasanton, Calif.) added two goals in the win for the Pioneers, who also received goals off the sticks of junior midfielder Dominque Cook (Morrison, Colo.), sophomore midfielder Mariana Spry (Nashua, N.H.) as well as freshmen attacker Jessica Peyton (Shorewood, Minn.), midfielder Alexis Shipman (Englewood, Colo.) and defender Katie Smith (Lexington, Mass.).

"We played a good game today, and the score was indicative of that," said head coach Abby Burbank. "We had a lot more free-position shots than normal, and Sarah Hazard did well against some point-blank shots. We did well with our transition, and you can see that by how the scoring was distributed."

Signorella finished with a game-high six-point effort on four goals and two assists in the setback for Stonehill, while senior Nicole Cuff (Winchester) added a goal and two assists for the Lady Chieftains. The Pioneers outshot the Lady Chieftains by a slim 22-21 margin, as each team had six free-position shots.

Denver concludes its 2001 season this Wednesday, April 25 in Colorado Springs as the Pioneers travel to face Colorado College.

DENVER WOMEN'S LACROSSE -- at Easton, Mass.DENVER 11, Stonehill 9                   1    2   ?   FDENVER (2-9)       8    3   ?   11Stonehill (10-6)   4    5   ?   9GOALS: DENVER -- Baldwin 3, Spry 2, Hites, Peyton, Cook, Shipman, Smith,Green; STONEHILL -- Signorella 4, Cuff, Bartlett, Gross, Parent, Shannon.ASSISTS: DENVER 4 (Baldwin, Hites, Shipman, Jarrett), STONEHILL 5(Signorella 2, Cuff 2, Stubbs).SAVES: DENVER 9 (Hazard 9), STONEHILL 8 (Medeiros 7).