SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - The American International College women's lacrosse team hosted a Morgan's Message Game against No. 24 Southern New Hampshire University as part of a Northeast-10 Conference-wide Morgan's Message Day in support of the student-athlete mental health organization on Wednesday, April 12.

The game was one of six NE10 lacrosse games, featuring 11 programs from across five states. The NE10 is the first conference in the country to dedicate an entire day of games to supporting the organization.

Morgan's Message was created by the family and former teammates of Morgan Rodgers, a former Duke University lacrosse student-athlete who died tragically in July 2019 after battling mental health struggles, with the mission of eliminating the stigma surrounding mental health, normalizing conversations about mental health, and to ensure that mental health is treated equally to physical health for all student-athletes. The goal of the day was to facilitate and encourage conversations around mental health, in hopes of breaking the stigmas surrounding those conversations and ultimately saving lives.

To that end, there were special announcements throughout the game informing fans of mental health statistics and about resources available through Morgan's Message as well as for students on AIC's campus. Additionally, the Dexter Health Center set up a table, with information about its services and how students and staff can connect if they need access to those resources, which are available free and confidentially to any AIC student.

Morgan's Message Ambassador Kayla Robinson, the captain of AIC's women's basketball team, also had a table set up with information about the organization, its aims and goals, and the work that student-athletes participating on campus are doing to help in mental health initiatives. Robinson was interviewed by WWLP 22 News about the event. 

"We are just bringing awareness to mental health in any way we can. I like to live by the only way out is through. The more people that talk about it, the more people that bring awareness to it, it really helps everyone," she said.

American International College women's lacrosse participated in Morgan's Message Day https://t.co/Irw0TyOAJq

— WWLP-22News (@WWLP22News) April 13, 2023

On the field, the teams battled closely in the first period. Isabelle Stone and Liz Day both had two points in the first period, as Stone scored twice, with the first set up by Day and the second coming on a free position attempt, while Day scored one of her own as well. Early in the second, Hannah Rinehart set up Jordyn Galgay for a tally before the Penmen began to pull away; a late Gabrielle Walz tally was AIC's final goal of the first half as AIC went to the break down 11-5.

The Penmen added to their lead in the second half. AIC notched three more goals in the final 30 minutes, with Sam Giordano, Kathryn Moody, and Anevay Rice each hitting the net; Walz assisted Moody's goal, while Aimee Stairs earned her first career assist feeding Rice for her strike.

AIC returns to action Saturday, April 15 at 6:00 p.m. for its Senior Night Game against Franklin Pierce University.