Springfield, Mass. — April 28, 2010 — Nicole Soucie scored four goals, and Allie Bazzano and Erin Doolan added three more goals apiece, to lead their Springfield College women’s lacrosse team to an 18-3 victory over Smith College in a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinal contest this afternoon under overcast skies at SC’s Stagg Field.
With the win, #2-seeded Springfield raised its record to 9-7, while #7-seeded Smith closed its season at 3-13.
Springfield will now advance to the NEWMAC semifinals to be played at Babson College Saturday (May 1). The Pride will play #3-seeded Mount Holyoke in the second semifinal game of the day at 1:30 pm. Mount Holyoke defeated #6-seeded Wheaton, 15-6, this evening. The host and #1-seeded Babson will play #5-seeded MIT at 11 am. Earlier today, MIT upset #4-seeded Wellesley at Wellesley, 7-6.
This was the second game in five days between these two clubs. Last Saturday, in the last regular-season game, SC defeated Smith, 20-6, in Northampton.
In today’s game, Springfield jumped out to an 11-0 halftime lead. Just 1:48 into the second half, the Pride added two more goals to take a 13-0 advantage. SC outscored Smith, 5-3, the rest of the way.
For SC, Soucie finished with four goals, while Doolan had three goals and one assist. Bazzano also had three goals. Jackie Moscardelli finished with two goals and two assists. Jenn Zubkus had two goals and one assist, while Meagan Dobson ended with one goal and four assists.
Others in the SC scoring column included Meghan Flanagan with one goal and one assist, and Brittany LeGuelaff with the same totals. Allie Davis added one goal for the home team.
For the visitors, goal scorers included Carolyn Whiting, Kaitlyn Murdough, and Mary Pasini.
For Springfield, senior goalkeeper Lauren McAulay made five saves in 30 minutes of action in what could have been her final appearance on Stagg Field. Amanda Mercado made two saves in the last 30 minutes for SC. For Smith, Alina Pechacek made eight saves, allowing 14 goals, in 43 minutes and 10 seconds worth of play. Meredith Kallfelz had two saves, but allowed four goals in the final 16:50 in relief for the Pioneers.
Springfield led 9-0 before 15 minutes of play had expired. Six different players for the Pride had found the back of the net by that time. They included Flanagan at 27:47, Soucie at 21:39, Davis at 21:28, Doolan at 20:35, Bazzano at 19:12 and 18:42, Soucie twice at 17:24 and 17:03, and Dobson at 15:24. Those last eight goals were scored in a span of six minutes and 15 seconds.
Smith did not score until Whiting tallied with 23:29 remaining in the second half. Murdough’s goal was scored with 8:58 left, and Pasini punched one home with 2:11 remaining to wrap up the day.
