New London, Conn. - April 27, 2022 - The Springfield College women's lacrosse program held on for a 11-10 victory over Coast Guard on Wednesday night in the New England Women's And Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) regular season finale.

The Pride close out the regular season with a 12-5 record and 8-1 in NEWMAC play. 

Katie Martel (Hartland, Conn.) tallied five goals to lead all players in the contest. Jade O'Connor (Baltimore, Md.) turned in three strikes and a helper for the Pride. Springfield outshot the Bears, 27-21 in the win. 

Gianna Cascio notched three goals for Coast Guard, while Devon McCue was terrific with 10 saves. 

The Pride opened up the game with a 4-1 lead with 8:07 remaining after Arielle Johnson (Woodstock, Conn.) buried an unassisted score for the Pride. Coast Guard closed the gap in the first quarter with back-to-back goals to make the score 4-3 with 2:05 remaining, however Martel cashed in a free position goal with 38 seconds left to put Springfield back up 5-3. 

Martel opened the second with another free position shot to allow Springfield own a 6-3 advantage. Coast Guard responded in a big way scoring four-straight goals to take a 7-6 lead into the half. 

After another opening goal from Martel at 11:39, Brenda Johnson stuck an unassisted shot for Coast Guard to put the Bears ahead 8-7. From there, Springfield would score four unanswered goals spanning from 7:47 in the third all the way to 10:08 in the fourth. The scoring run would be capped off by a Holly Rivers (Danbury, Conn.) goal with 10:08 to go to put Springfield ahead 11-8. Coast Guard turned in two scores to close the gap to 11-10. Gillian Cascio would win the ensuing draw control and give the hosts' a chance to tie the game, however, Katie Campbell (Somers, N.Y.) intercepted a pass down the sideline to seal the victory. 

Springfield enters the NEWMAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed and will play next Wednesday on Stagg Field.

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