Posted: Mar 27, 2014

Fitchburg State University Tops Women’s Lacrosse, 18-8

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College junior attacker Nora McDonough (Agawam, Mass.) netted a team-high three goals but Fitchburg State University used six goals from Lindsey White (Hanover, Mass.) and four each from Ali Laferriere (Tyngsboro, Mass.) and Kayla Panek (Belchertown, Mass.) to help the Falcons stake an 18-8 victory in Thursday evening's non-conference women's lacrosse game at Leary Field.

With the loss, Elms moves to 1-5 on the season, while Fitchburg State improves to 2-3 overall.

Fitchburg State provided a balanced attack netting nine goals in each half, while Elms found the back of the net four times in each stanza.

White opened the scoring at the 23:07 mark, immediately answered by sophomore attacker Jillian Pirog (Ludlow, Mass.) who netted the Blazers' first goal just over a minute later to even the game at 1-1.

Five minutes later, the Falcons began to pull away scoring six straight goals including three from White, and one each from Panek, Erin Murphy (Warwick, R.I.) and Brianna Dunn (Monson, Mass.) allowed Fitchburg State to stake a 7-1 lead.

Elms rallied scoring three of the final five tallies of the first half as McDonough netted two markers, while junior midfielder Kayla Narey (South Hadley, Mass.) added a strike to set the halftime score at 9-4.

The second half opened with the Falcons scoring seven straight goals in the first 9:24 of the second frame to give Fitchburg State a commanding 16-4 advantage. Laferriere scored all four of her goals during the stretch, Panek added two tallies and White started the stretch with a goal to give the Falcons 12-goal cushion.

Blazers' junior attacker Lauren Mazza (Agawam, Mass.) broke up the rally with her first goal of the game. Two goals by White and Murphy set the score at 18-5 before Elms closed the game with the final three markers scored by Mazza, Pirog and McDonough.

Madeline Hoffman (Mansfield, Mass.) picked up four groundballs while Murphy and Dunn collected three each for the Falcons. Laferriere earned 13 draw controls, while goalkeeper Elizabeth Darrigo (Billerica, Mass.) turned away 11 shots to preserve the victory.

Narey and freshman defender Kathleen Tuechler (Farmingdale, N.Y.) scooped up five groundballs each in the losing effort and Narey notched four draw controls. Sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Carpenter (Vernon, Conn.) made 11 saves in the losing effort.

Elms returns to non-league play on Saturday, March 29 at Mitchell College at 4:00 p.m.