Posted: Apr 28, 2015

Women's Lacrosse Cruises Past Southern Vermont into NECC Semifinals

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College women's lacrosse team lead wire-to-wire in their New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) quarterfinal matchup against visiting Southern Vermont Tuesday evening at Leary Field, defeating the Mountaineers, 21-5. With the win, the Blazers improve to 7-9 on the season, and advance to their third straight NECC semifinal. Southern Vermont wraps their program's inaugural season with a 4-10 mark.

The Blazers opened the scoring with a back-to-back goals from senior Nora McDonough (South Hadley, Mass.) and junior Jillian Pirog (Ludlow, Mass.) in the first minute of play. Southern Vermont cut the lead in half on a tally from sophomore Melodie Orrell (Gloucester, Mass.) at the 28:26 mark. The Blazers began to separate from the Mountaineers as Pirog and junior Ashley Cava (Wilbraham, Mass.) traded goals over the next four minutes of play, extending the Elms advantage to 6-1.

Following a strike from Elms senior Kayla Narey (South Hadley, Mass.), Southern Vermont rattled of a pair of goals from Orrell and junior Emily Freling (Schenevus, N.Y) to make it a 7-3 game with 18:34 left in the first half. The Blazers pulled away with seven unanswered goals to close out the first half, featuring a trio of goals from Narey, to put Elms up 14-3 heading into halftime.

The Blazers carried their momentum into the second half with goals from junior Emily Brown (Agawam, Mass.) and freshman Victoria-Lynn Smith (Somers, Conn.) in the opening four minutes of play. Orrell netted her third goal of the day on a free position strike at the 23:50 mark, to trim the Elms lead to 16-4. Smith netted a pair of goals in less than a two-minute span, followed by goals from Pirog and freshmen Jackie Soucia (Belchertown, Mass.) and Haley George (Brattleboro, Vt.) to send the Blazers to the 21-5 win over Southern Vermont.

The Blazers dominated the shot column, 42-21, during the contest, while winning the draws, 15-13, and ground balls, 17-12. Pirog led the Blazers offensively with a game-high six goals. Narey netted four goals, while McDonough and Smith scored three goals apiece. Cava and McDonough dished out three assists, with Cava adding a pair of goals in the win. Orrell paced the Mountaineers with a team-high three goals, with Freling and sophomore Emily Lesure (Cheshire, Mass.) rounded out the scoring for Southern Vermont.

The Blazers will move onto the semifinals to face top-seeded Regis College Thursday afternoon at Regis. Face-off is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. The Mountaineers wrapped up their program's first season with their first NECC playoff appearance.

ELMS LACROSSE