WORCESTER, Mass. - The Lancers received their first conference win of the year with a dominating 5-0 win over Mass. Maritime. Kendal Bergenholtz (Grafton, Mass.) and Ashleigh Howland (Wilmington, Mass.) both led the way with a pair of goals each and helped the blue and gold improve to 4-1-1 (1-0 MASCAC) on the year.
The Lancers owned the ball during the entire course of the game, relentlessly attacking the Buccaneers goal. The Lancers out shot their opponents 34-1. Mass. Maritime's first shot did not come until 3:30 left in regulation. One bright spot for the Buccaneers was the performance by Katie Levesque (Wilmot, N.H.) who played a solid game in goal, making a total of 15 saves on the afternoon.
The Lancers had many opportunities the first 20 minutes of play but could not break through. Two breakaways by Worcester State would not transfer to the scoreboard. Finally the hard work would pay off at 25:41. After a pass from Jenna Martin (Salem, N.H) to the right side, Bergenholtz broke the tie as she finessed a shot to the bottom left side which made the score 1-0.
The blue and gold were not done in the first half. At 41:28 Howland would strike for her first of two goals. Molly Palatino (Ludlow, Mass.) passed a perfectly placed ball to the open Howland who tapped the ball into the open goal to take a 2-0 lead into halftime.
The Lancers came out firing in the second half looking to extend their lead. Nikki DiPilla (Sterling, Mass.) received a through ball from Alicia Macomber (Stoughton, Mass.) who went 1v1 with the keeper and looked to bury a shot into the lower left corner. Though, Levesque came up big and made a great reaction save.
Bergenholtz would tally her second goal of the game at 66:28 off of a corner kick. After a cluster in front of goal, Mackenzie Foye (Ludlow, Mass.) strung a great ball to the moving Bergenholtz who one touched and laced a goal to the side netting to extend the lead to 3-0.
The Lancers would not take long to strike again as Tsara LeBlanc (Gardner, Mass.) scored at 67:03 to take a commanding 4-0 lead. LeBlanc received a through ball and used her speed to beat the defender and get 1v1 with Levesque and shot a perfectly placed ball into the right side of the goal.
The blue and gold were not done. Howland would pick up her second goal of the match at 84:48 after a through ball from Angelina Sutherland (Tyngsboro, Mass.). On the breakaway, Howland tapped a great ball to the bottom left side and put the game away at 5-0.
Worcester State's goalkeeper, Jillian Witkowski (Leicester, Mass.), recorded her fourth shutout in a row and improves her save percentage to .911. Her goals against average so far this season is 0.64.
The Lancers are back in action at Salve Regina for a 3:30 matchup on Sep. 22 for a non-conference battle.
Release written by Sports Information Intern, Connor Haynes