Worcester, MA- The Worcester State Lancers (6-4, 1-0 MASCAC) traveled out west to Springfield where they held an afternoon bout against the Western New England Golden Bears (2-7, 1-1 CCC).
FINAL: WNE 17 LANCERS 5
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Lancers donned their Blue & Gold away uniforms as they were first to strike during the cloudy afternoon. Worcester junior attacker Ashley Hurley (Feeding Hills, MA) lobbed a pass to junior attacker Hannah Erickson (Dunstable, MA) in front of the net who finished for the first goal, her nineteenth of the season.
The Golden Bears retaliated with a goal of their own soon afterward. Senior attacker Ally Ferraro located teammate junior attacker Mia Celentano in the right slot of the net as Celentano was able to squeak it past the goalkeeper for her team-high twenty-third goal on the year.
Goalie junior Olivia LaValle (Peabody, MA) made multiple stops for her team to keep it locked at 1-1.
Eventually, the Golden Bears struck again, this time sophomore midfielder Ella Henry scoring on a pass assisted by senior midfielder Emmy Burns to take a 2-1 lead.
After a defensive stop, the Lancers regained possession deep in Bear territory as sophomore Mckayla Fisher (Peabody, MA) used her speed to run the distance of the field passing the ball to Hannah Erickson who dished it to junior attacker Abigail Wing (Griswold, CT) behind the net. Wing read the defense shifting right where she saw a hole and took the ball from behind the net to the left giving herself an easy run and goal to tie the game 2-2.
Western New England responded again on their home turf, this time Ella Henry scored her second of the day. The assist came off the stick of Emmy Burns bringing the score to 3-2.
Emmy Burns followed the assist with a goal of her own. Burns was awarded a free shot, taking advantage of the opportunity sprinting full force to the net scoring to give her squad a 4-2 lead.
Ally Ferraro fired a shot on net from distance with force extending Western New England's lead to 5-2. Emmy Burns having an impactful day was credited with the assist. Mia Celento scored her second of the day, another assist being credited to Burns for a 6-2 lead.
The Lancers eventually answered back with Erickson notching her second goal of the day. 6-3
Before the end of the half, Worcester stopped WNE to regain possession but an errant pass from goal found its way to Celento who picked it up and scored her third goal with four seconds left. The score now 7-3 heading into the half.
Sophomore defender Lina Eves became the fifth goal scorer for Western New England, putting her team up 8-3 in the contest unassisted to begin the second half. Mia Celento followed up with her third goal of the day, the score 9-3.
Worcester stopped the Golden Bears mini-run with Hurley driving down the right slot toward goal spotting Erickson on the left side of the net with defenders around as she netted her second of the day.
Mia Celento displayed her shiftiness, the senior spinning to find Emmy Burns on a spin pass to further the lead to 10-4. Celento followed that sequence up driving down the right slot of the goal, shooting and scoring while being bumped, the score 11-4. Celento scored on back-to-back free shots, the score 13-4.
Abigail Wing with the ball deep in Bear territory sliced left to right with her agility, shooting across her body to cut the deficit to 13-5 as the junior netted her second on the day.
Ally Ferraro rebuttled the Lancer goal with one of her own, the attacker moving right to left in front of the goalie finding an opening space to finish giving her team the 14-5 go-ahead. Junior attacker Meghan Spedaliere notched the fifteenth goal for WNE on a Lancer turnover that was assisted by first-year attacker Lyndsey Bunnell.
Mia Celento once again scored, her seventh on the day. Junior attacker Mariella Bicaglea scored the last goal of the game with 1:04 remaining to lock up the victory for Western New England for a final score of 17-5.
UPDATED RECORDS:
Worcester State Lancers (6-5, 1-0)
Western New England (3-7, 1-1)
WHAT'S NEXT?:
The Blue & Gold take the field again on Wednesday, April 10th against WestConn as the team will host their "One Love Game". The One Love Foundation is a national non-profit organization with the goal of ending relationship abuse. We empower young people with the tools and resources they need to see the signs of healthy and unhealthy relationships and bring life-saving prevention education to their communities.