Springfield, Mass. – April 29, 2009 – The Springfield College women’s lacrosse team lead 9-0 after the first 30 minutes of play and never looked back as it downed visiting Smith College, 18-3, in the opening round of the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship on Wednesday afternoon.
The second-seeded Pride improve to 11-5 on the season and will take on the winner of the #3 MIT/#6 Mount Holyoke game on Saturday afternoon at top-seeded Babson. The Pioneers season comes to a close with a 4-12 record.
Springfield set the tone early as Jenn Zubkus and Erin Doolan tallied a pair of goals in the opening 1:07 of the game. Springfield went on to dominate the first half as it scored six goals in the first 6:41 of the game to take a commanding 6-0 lead. Owning a 21-7 advantage in shots in the frame, Springfield received goals from Megan OÂ'Brien, Nicole Soucie, Jackie Moscardelli, Mackenzie Vita, Heather Dobson, and Megan Grillsas it went into the half up 9-0.
Smith took advantage of the Pride hitting the crossbar three times in the opening minutes of the second half as it began to chip away at the host’s lead. Three consecutive unassisted strikes from Mary Pasini, Carolyn Whiting, and Phoebe Hopkins made it a 10-3 contest with just over 18 minutes remaining in regulation. However, the Pride put the game out of reach as a Moscardelli tally kick-started the Pride’s 8-0 run to close out the contest.
Lauren McAulay earned the win in net as she played the first 30 minutes, posting six saves, while not giving up a goal. Katlyn Lavin played the second half and made two saves while allowing three goals. Chelsea Henderson played just over 50 minutes in goal and made seven saves, while Elizabeth Niehoff gave up five goals in the final 9:30.
Moscardelli led all players with five points off three goals and two assists, while Zubkus and Soucie each tallied a hat trick to go along with an assist. 13 different players recorded a point in the game for the Pride. Meghan Wisell was impressive in her final game at Stagg Field as the defender tallied four caused turnovers, four ground balls, and three draw controls in the win.
