Women's Lacrosse Falls On The Road To Western Connecticut
Danbury, CT --- Worcester State was defeated by Western Connecticut, 16-6, in non-conference women's lacrosse action this evening. The Lancers were paced by senior Colleen Manning's hat-trick as classmate Karla Rotondi picked up seven ground balls and added four draws in the setback.
Danbury, CT --- Sophomore Devon Edwards (Islip, NY) continued her hot streak on offense for the Western Connecticut State University women's lacrosse team with three goals and four assists to lead the Colonials over the visitors from Worcester State University, 16-6 Tuesday evening at the Westside Athletic Complex.
Also scoring for the Colonials were junior Brianna Mitterando (Mastic Beach, NY) and sophomore Nicole Perrone (Brookfield, CT) with three goals each, followed by junior Kaitlyn Arconti (Danbury, CT) and freshman Hyla Costello (Southington, CT) who each had two goals.
For Worcester State, senior Colleen Manning (Plainville, MA) led with three goals, while freshman Shawna Strazzere (Billerica, MA), fourth-year Karla Rotondi (Tewksbury, MA), and rookie Vicki O'Brien (Canton, MA) found the net once each.
Rotondi had a team-bests of seven ground balls, four draws and two caused turnovers while senior Karen Feeley (W. Springfield, MA) picked up four ground balls and forced a pair of miscues.
Costello got things rolling early for WestConn with a free-position goal with less than two minutes played, and by the time five minutes had elapsed from the clock, the Colonials had a 4-0 lead. Strazzere stopped the WestConn run with Worcester State's first and only goal of the first half at the 23:36 mark. Arconti's unassisted goal midway through the first half gave WestConn a 5-1 lead, and then Edwards either scored or assisted on the next six goals of the game, four to close out the first half and two in the opening minutes of the second half.
Holding a 9-1 lead at the half, WestConn continued to dominate play for the first 10 minutes of the second half and moved out to a 12-1 lead after Mitterando converted a free-position opportunity with just over 20 minutes remaining. WestConn's defense and goaltending held Worcester State scoreless for the first 15 minutes of the second half, but the Lancers scored back to back goals one minute apart to narrow the margin to 12-3.
Goals by junior Marissa Vitti (West Haven, CT), Arconti, and third-year Lauren Poppe (Brookfield, CT) over a three-minute span pushed the WestConn lead to 15-3, before Manning caught fire for Worcester State, scoring three straight goals in just over two minutes for a 15-6 margin. senior Carolyn Haase (Middlebury, CT) closed out the scoring with an unassisted tally with four minutes remaining in the game, giving WestConn a 16-6 victory.
For the game, WestConn outshot Worcester State 32-13 and had 25 shots on goal compared to 10 for the Lancers.
Freshman goalkeeper Karli Portnoy (Sea Cliff, NY) made two saves for WestConn to earn the win, before giving way to sophomore Meghan Maroney (Granby, CT) in the second half, who also recorded two saves. Junior Haley Erickson (Saugus, MA) made nine saves in goal for Worcester State, now 1-7 on the season, and takes the loss.
WestConn, now 6-4 on the season, will return to action on Thursday when it travels to Massachusetts to play Westfield State University at 7 PM. The Lancers continue NEWLA play with a 1 o'clock road game against Elms on the road on Saturday.