Fifteen First-Half Goals Pace Worcester State University Past Women’s Lacrosse, 20-4
CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College junior attacker Chelsey Grabowski (South Hadley, Mass.) scored two goals but Worcester State University used a four-goal effort from Colleen Manning (Plainville, Mass.) and netted 15 in the opening period to help lift the Lancers to a 20-4 win in Saturday afternoon's New England Women's Lacrosse Alliance (NEWLA) contest at Leary Field.
With the loss, Elms falls to 3-9 on the season, 0-5 in conference action, while Worcester State improves to 2-7 overall, 2-2 in NEWLA play.
Worcester State stormed out to an early 5-0 lead in the first 6:14 behind a pair of Manning scores and one each from Vicki O'Brien (Canton, Mass.), Karla Rotondi (Tewksbury, Mass.) and Shawna Strazzere (Billerica, Mass.) before Elms' junior attacker Emily Walsh (Hadley, Mass.) halted the run with a goal on a free position shot to set the score at 5-1 with 22:11 to play in the first half.
The Lancers then scored 10 unanswered goals led by two apiece from Manning and Meagan Sheehan (Dunstable, Mass.), while Strazzere, O'Brien, Danielle Clifford (Attleboro, Mass.), Amy Tucker (North Attleboro, Mass.), Rhetta Guimond (Royalston, Mass.), and Stacey Doherty (Westford, Mass.) each netted a goal to give Worcester State a 15-1 advantage at intermission.
Elms came out firing in the second half as Grabowski scored just 19 seconds into the period and the Blazers found the back of the net for three of the first five goals of the stanza to set the score at 17-4 with 18:04 to play in the contest. Grabowski and sophomore midfielder Lauren Kalbach (West Harwich, Mass.) netted the other Elms goals during the stretch.
Worcester State extended its lead back to 14 as Tucker scored on a feed from Strazzere, before Strazzere netted her third goal of the contest on a pass from Sheehan to set the score at 19-4 with 11:40 to play in the game. Doherty then netted her second tally of the game 2:30 later to cap the scoring and give the Lancers a 20-4 win.
Manning finished with four goals and an assist, while Strazzere notched three goals and three assists in the winning effort. Rotondi added a game-high six groundball pickups, while O'Brien and Palmer added five each.
Walsh scooped a team-best four groundballs and caused three turnovers in the losing effort for Elms, while freshman goalkeeper Julie Hurley (Palmer, Mass.) stopped 18 shots and suffered the loss to fall to 1-2 on the season.
Worcester State net-minder Hayley Erickson (Saugus, Mass.) recorded seven saves and improved to 2-7 between the pipes.
Elms is back in action on Monday, April 18 with a non-conference bout at St. Joseph College (Conn.). Game time is set for 4:00 p.m.
