St. Joseph College (Conn.) Outlasts Women's Lacrosse, 10-7

Box Score

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College sophomore attacker Chelsey Grabowski (South Hadley, Mass.) netted a trio of goals, but a six-goal effort from St. Joseph College's (Conn.) Emily Johnson (Avon, Conn.) helped lift the Blue Jays to a hard-fought 10-7 victory over the Blazers in Tuesday afternoon's non-conference women's lacrosse game at Leary Field.

With the loss, Elms falls to 0-12 on the season, while St. Joseph concludes its 2010 campaign with its first win of the season to move to 1-13 overall.

Trailing 9-6 with just under five minutes to play, Grabowski sprinted downfield and found the back of the net for her third scoring strike of the game to pull Elms to within two at 9-7 with 4:37 remaining in the contest.

Two minutes and 11 seconds later, Johnson tallied her final goal of the game giving St. Joseph a 10-7 lead with 2:26 on the clock. From there, the Blue Jays were able to fight off the Blazers' attack and secure their three-goal victory.

Elms' junior midfielder Jennifer Lough (Feeding Hills, Mass.), and sophomore attacker Katlyn Harrington (East Longmeadow, Mass.) tallied two goals apiece, while Harrington and senior attacker Jessica Shea (South Hadley, Mass.) assisted on one goal each in the losing effort.

Johnson led the St. Joseph offense with six scores on 11 shots, while Diana Soucier (Avon, Conn.) tallied two goals. Kelsey Whitney (Madison, Conn.) and Joanna White (Granby, Mass.) added a goal each in the win.

Elms jumped out to an early 2-0 lead when Lough scored on a free position shot at the 28:14 mark of the first period, before Grabowski scored on a feed from Harrington at the 27:05 mark to stake its two-goal lead.

Leading 3-2, Grabowski and Harrington fired in back-to-back goals just 23 seconds apart to give Elms a 5-2 lead with 11:53 to play in the first 30 minutes.

St. Joseph answered with a scoring strike from both Whitney and Soucier to pull the Blue Jays to within one at 5-4 at intermission.

Lough put Elms back up two 1:26 into the second frame, but St. Joseph responded with five unanswered goals to post a 9-6 lead.

Blazers' senior goalkeeper Krystyna Gagne (Methuen, Mass.) finished with 19 saves, while Michelle Silva (Bridgeport, Conn.) turned away 10 shots for the Blue Jays.

Elms senior defender Ashley Ziemba (Chicopee, Mass.) caused four turnovers, while senior midfielder Melissa Pava (Springfield, Mass.) and Shea scooped four groundballs each.

Elms returns to New England Women's Lacrosse Alliance (NEWLA) action on Saturday, April 24 when it travels to Leicester, Mass. to take on Becker College. First-draw is set for 12:00 p.m.