Westfield, Mass. - March 30, 2022 - The Springfield College women's lacrosse program defeated Westfield State, 10-9, in the final minutes on Wednesday afternoon at Alumni Field in non-conference play. 

Springfield improves to 5-3 on the season, while the Owls fall to 3-5. Springfield owned the draw control, 16-7, and collected 16 ground balls. 

Jade O'Connor (Baltimore, Md.) continues her streak of impressive play as the graduate student totaled five goals for Springfield. Holly Rivers (Danbury, Conn.) pitched in a pair of goals, while Taylor Pichel (Hopkinton, Mass.) had a goal and an assist in the victory. Haley Moody (Wells, Maine) was credited with nine saves in the victory. 

Emma Cretella was Westfield's leading scorer with three goals, while three other players contributed two goals. 

Springfield went up 2-0 after the Katie Martel (Hartland, Conn.) and O'Connor each scored for the Pride in the opening quarter, however, Westfield responded with two-straight goals to make it a 2-2 game after the first quarter. Springfield opened up the second with a free position strike from Rivers at 13:53, before an unassisted goal from O'Connor pushed the Pride up to 4-2 with 10:58 to play in the half. Natalie DeMaio took a feed from Cretella at the 9:30 mark to make it a 4-3 game, but Springfield would cash in on two more free positions before the half to take a 6-4 lead into the break. 

At 12:34 in the third, Arielle Johnson (Woodstock, Conn.) dished the ball to Pichel for the score to allow Springfield to up its lead to 7-4. Springfield looked to advance its lead further, but timly goals from Cretella would keep the Springfield lead no higher than three. After O'Connor's third goal of the game at 4:51, Cretella responded with an advantage goal at 1:44 to cut the deficit to 8-6 for the Owls. 

In the fourth, Westfield stormed back with back-to-back goals to tie it at 8-8 with 8:02 remaining. Pichel found O'Connor in stride wiht 5:14 to go to lift Springfield up 9-8, but on the next possession, Cassidy Harvey would curl the crease and punch in the tying goal at 9-9 for the Owls. At 2:44, O'Connor pushed Springfield ahead one final time with a free position shot for her fifth goal of the game. Moody and the Springfield defense would pick up a critical stop in the final minute to claim the win for the Pride. 

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