Lancers Remain Undefeated in MASCAC Action with Fourth Straight Victory

Worcester, MA- The Worcester State Women's Lacrosse team (5-5) traveled to MCLA (2-2) today to take on the Trailblazers after a dominating 15-1 victory over Wellesley College on Wednesday.

With the Lancers looking to win their fourth straight game, the girls started off with intensity making sure that MCLA knew it would be a tough game. After scoring five goals in their win against Wellesley, graduate student Clare Conway (Billerica, MA) scored first for the Lancers on an assist from first year Cailey Ryan (Acton, MA).

A little over a minute later, the Lancers answered yet again with a run-and-shoot goal by senior Shea Jarvis (Auburn, MA). Jarvis recorded 1 goal and 3 assists in the Lancers win on Wednesday and added yet again to her resume by increasing the lead 2-0.

The Trailblazers attempted to answer back when they crossed Lancers territory until a turnover that ended up leading to a goal scored by sophomore Ashley Hurley (Feeding Hills, MA) on the assist by senior Emily Pavoni to increase the lead yet again. The Lancers have dominated the first half on their recent win streak and look to continue to do so here at MCLA.

Less than a minute later, Conway continued her impressive season by scoring yet again with ease after some help on the assist from senior Lily Gendron (Lakeville, MA) who connected with Conway for her second goal of the game. MCLA could not find an answer for both the Lancer's defense and offense as they struggled to remain in WSU territory and let up yet another goal, this time by Gendron guided on the assist from Hurley for the fifth goal of the game.

After the Lancer's impressive 5-0 run, MCLA stepped up their defense and saved several shots from becoming goals for roughly five minutes until Jarvis recorded her 20th goal of the season with a shift maneuver to score for the Lancers.

Following some struggle to land another goal within the first five minutes of the second quarter, Conway recorded not just her second goal of the game, but also her 30th goal on the season, putting the Lancers up 7-0 on the Trailblazers.

For her second goal of the game and first of the quarter, Jarvis scored yet another without an assist to increase the Lancer's dominating first half. The hope for a shutout was quickly extinguished following Jarvis' goal once MCLA ran down the field quickly for a counter-attack and finished to finally put themselves on the board.

The Lancers let it be known, however, that they were not going to allow a comeback once first year Molly Witkowski (Port Jervis, NY) scored back-to-back goals off assists from both first year Abigail Vincent (Lakeville, MA) and sophomore Hannah Erickson (Dunstable, MA) to give Witkowski a total of five goals on the season. 

Following her assist on the Lancer's tenth goal of the game, Vincent switched things around and scored this time, with the assist from senior Bridget Smestad (Branford, CT) to increase the Lancer lead to ten. With twenty seconds left to go before the end of the half, Witkowski impressed yet again on her third goal of the half in a span of six minutes with senior Jessica McKenzie (Mendon, MA) assisting her.

HALFTIME: WSU 12, MCLA 1

With both teams coming back from halftime, MCLA looked to mount a comeback against the Lancers until Gendron increased the WSU score once again with her second goal of the game, this time a solo job where she weaved between defenders for the shot. This marks her 15th goal of the season.

Conway continued her impressive game with a pair of goals within four minutes of each other in solo attacks against the MCLA defense to mark her fifth goal of the game, her 32nd of the season, and increasing the score for her team 15-1.

Conway should find herself in consideration for the top spot and winner of player of the week following this weekend due to her sixth goal being recorded just moments after scoring her fifth, this time assisted by Jarvis for her first of the game.

Roughly five minutes into the final quarter saw an Abigail to Abigail connection for the Lancers when Abigail Vincent scored her second goal of the game on an assist from sophomore Abigail Wing (Griswold, CT) to continue a dominating show from WSU. Wing followed up her assist with a goal moments later on the assist from Witkowski, giving Wing her third goal of the season. 

Witkowski recorded a back-to-back assist during the Lancer's 19th goal, this time aiding Hannah Erickson on her 10th goal of the season until Ryan assisted her for her 11th just a minute later, giving Erickson a total of two on the game and increasing the score 20-1.

Conway recorded the most goals for the Lancers in this game with senior Savanna Rosado (Milford, MA) saving two shots total and allowing just one in a dominating game for WSU.

FINAL: WSU 20, MCLA 1

The Lancers move to 6-5, 2-0 in the MASCAC, on the season winning their fourth straight while the Trailblazers drop to 2-3. The Lancers will be on the road once again on April 12th when they travel to West Connecticut (8-2) for a 6pm start.