Women's Lacrosse Thumps Bay Path
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Bay Path (1-3, 1-1 NECC) | 2 | 3 | 5 |
|
Elms (4-4, 2-0 NECC) | 12 | 7 | 19 |
Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)
CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College women's lacrosse pulled their record to .500 with a 19-5 win over visiting Bay Path University in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action Wednesday night at Leary Field. The Blazers improved to 4-4 overall, and 2-0 in NECC play, while Bay Path dropped to 1-3, and 1-1 on the season.
After five minutes of scoreless play opened the game, Elms dented the scoreboard on an unassisted strike from senior Nora McDonough (South Hadley, Mass.). McDonough pushed the Elms lead to 2-0 when she converted off a feed from junior Ashley Cava (Wilbraham, Mass.) at the 20:55 mark. Blazers junior Jillian Pirog (Ludlow, Mass.) sandwiched a pair of goals around a tally from freshman Jackie Soucia (Belchertown, Mass.) to extend the Elms advantage to 5-0. McDonough netted another pair of goals during a four-minute span to push the Blazers lead to 8-0. Bay Path got on the board in the 24th minute on a goal from senior Nicole Mitchell (Hopkinton, N.H.), followed by a goal from junior Dallas Jackson (Springfield, Mass.) to make it an 8-2 game. The Blazers closed the half by rattling off four straight goals, featuring back-to-back strikes from senior Kayla Narey (South Hadley, Mass.) in the final 35 seconds to give Elms a 12-2 lead heading into halftime.
Elms opened the second half with a pair of goals from Pirog, followed by a tally from Cava, pushing the Blazers advantage to 15-2 with 24:03 to play. Following a Wildcat goal from senior Megan Tancredi (Newington, Conn.), Cava and Soucia went netted consecutive goals in a two-minute span to give Elms a 17-3 lead. Bay Path freshman Kaylee Herring (Worcester, Vt.) delivered a man-up goal for the Wildcats at the 15:51 mark. McDonough converted a free position attempt with 11:07 to play, and then delivered the assist on a goal from freshman Haley Roberts (Westfield, Mass.) three minutes later, securing the 19-5 win for the Blazers.
The Blazers outshot the Wildcats, 30-22, during the contest. Elms edged Bay Path in ground balls, 28-16, and turnovers, 8-17.
"The win looked really good today," said Elms Head Coach Maureen Ruane. "Our transition was there, we got a lot of goals off assists, which was a goal of ours for today, and it was great preparation for our two conference games this weekend. I don't know if Elms has ever been .500, other than to start the season, and with four wins we have the fifth-most winning season already. We need to clean up our communication on defense moving forward, I don't know what happened out there and we lost our marks some times. Daniel Webster will be a difficult game for us because it will be on grass, so that changes the game a lot for us, so hopefully we can see some grass on Friday before we go."
Pirog led all scorers with six goals on the day, and McDonough added five goals and four assists in the win. Soucia registered her first career hat trick, while Cava and Narey added two goals apiece. Sophomore goalkeeper Meeghan O'Connor (4-4; Fall River, Mass.) made a nine saves.
Herring led the Wildcats with a pair of goals, while Mitchell, Tancredi, and Jackson rounded out the Bay Path scoring. Wildcat freshman goalie Nicole Gousey (Enfield, Conn.) stopped nine shot for Bay Path.
The Blazers will return to play with an NECC road trip to Daniel Webster Saturday afternoon for a 1:00 p.m. game. The Wildcats host Regis (Mass.) in NECC action at Noon Saturday afternoon.
ELMS LACROSSE
