Springfield, Mass. - May 6, 2017 - The Springfield College women's lacrosse team clipped MIT, 11-10, in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship Semifinals on Saturday at Stagg Field.

Springfield, which improves to 13-4, advances to the NEWMAC Championship, which will take place on Sunday, May 7 at 1 p.m. on Stagg Field, with the winner earning the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament.  MIT's season comes to a close with an 8-9 record.

Springfield College held a slight 21-19 edge in shots and forced MIT in 19 turnovers.  MIT won 14 of the 23 draw controls in the game and won the ground ball battle, 18-15. 

In net, senior goalkeeper Gabby Anderson (Mahopac, N.Y.) made eight saves, including seven in the second half, while her counterpart, Eva Boal (Princeton Junction, N.J.) produced seven stops in the contest.

Springfield College jumped out to an early 2-0 advantage on back-to-back goals from Kayla Schroeher (Riverhead, N.Y.) and Amanda Nusbaum (Conway, N.H.) just 1:01 apart, before MIT erased the two goal deficit on goals from Rayna Higuchi (Solona Beach, Calif.) and Hannah Levy (Yardley, Pa.) to make it 2-2 with 22:21 to play in the first half.

From there, the Engineers would tack on two more, including goals from Katie Notarangelo (Foxboro, Mass.) and Cecilia McCormick (Islip, N.Y.) to take a 4-2 lead, before Shelby Corsano (Bourne, Mass.) scored twice on free-position chances to make it 4-4 with 11:44 on the clock.

With 7:17 to play in the half, Julia Bireley (Franklin, Mass.) caused a big turnover in the defensive end, which allowed Corsano to pick up a ground ball and push transition, leading to a strike from Ann Mahoney (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) to make it 5-4 Pride.  MIT would again answer with three-straight goals to take a 7-5 advantage with 4:42 left in the half. 

Schroeher ended the run with her second goal of the game, as she created her own offense and finished her chance past Boal to make it 7-6, MIT, just 19 seconds later. With 2:50 on the clock, Kristen Steidler (Somers, Conn.) finished a free-position opportunity to pull the Pride even at seven, a score that would stand heading into the halftime break. 

Schroeher found the back of the net for the third time just 1:48 into the second half to give Springfield College a one-goal lead, but MIT used strikes from McCormick and Higuchi 54 seconds apart to regain a 9-8 cushion.  Taylor Kane (Woburn, Mass.) beat Boal between her legs at the 20:07 mark to tie things up and Allie Goddard (Acton, Mass.) gave Springfield a 10-9 edge when she snagged a Bianca Raniolo (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) feed and snuck a shot under the crossbar with 17:48 on the clock.  Emily Young (La Jolla, Calif.) got free inside and buried a great look from Emily Berzolla (Riverside, Conn.) with 9:31 remaining in regulation to tie the game for the final time.  

Anderson then came up with a huge stop on a MIT free-position stop, setting up Nusbaum's heroics as she blistered home a free-position bid with 5:54 left.

Mahoney won the ensuing draw control, and despite the teams trading possessions with both defenses locked in, Springfield held on for the one-goal win.