Fitchburg 14, Worcester State 11
Worcester, MA --- Fitchburg State senior Emily Swan (Franklin, MA) registered a game-best five goals with one assist while sophomore Amanda Burns (Weymouth, MA) added three markers and a pair of helpers to help lead Fitchburg State to a 14-11 triumph over Worcester State in New England Women’s Lacrosse action this afternoon.
With the win the Falcons improve to 7-5 and even out to 2-2 in the conference while the Lancers slip to 5-4 and 3-2 in the NEWLA.
FSC was also paced by second-year Kelly Finamore (Weymouth, MA) who chipped in with two goals, one assist and a team-high nine ground balls as junior Kaitlyn Kelly (Pepperell, MA) notched two tallies.
Junior Constance Perry (Reading, MA), sophomore Carissa Kennedy (Somerset, MA) and freshman Jamie Kelly (Pepperell, MA) along with first-year net minder Abbie Brown (Westwood, MA) combined to pick up 22 of Fitchburg State’s 43 ground balls.
Senior teammates Kim Vail (W. Newbury, MA) and Abby Cosenza (Shrewsbury, MA) and junior Carley MacIntyre (Townsend, MA) each netted a hat-trick for Worcester State while Vail finished with a match-high 10 ground balls with three caused turnovers. Cosenza also dished out a pair of assists for WSC.
The opening stanza would see both teams score in bunches as Worcester State scored three of the first four goals of the game to open up a 3-1 advantage with 19:01 left to play as Vail scored a pair in the run. Fitchburg State then rattled off three consecutive markers in a duration of about four minutes as the visitors went up 4-3 at 13:02.
The Lancers responded with a trio of tallies to take the two goal edge at 5:59 (6-4), but the Falcons would shut down WSC for the rest of the period with three unanswered goals as they ended the period leading, 7-6. With the score knotted 6-6, FSC forced a turnover behind Worcester State’s net with five seconds remaining and Kaitlyn Kelly dumped in the go-ahead marker for the visitors.
Fitchburg State came out of the intermission on fire as they exploded for four goals in a span of 1:44 with a pair by Swan as she helped the Falcons take advantage with the extra-man edge.
As FSC led 11-6 at 26:03, Worcester State buckled down and scored four out of the next five goals on the board over the next 13 minutes of game play to trim the deficit to two (12-10).
Both teams then traded goals over the next two minutes before the Falcons gained control of the draw and used a possession offense to run time off the clock with the lead (13-11). WSC was also whistled for a yellow card with 1:48 remaining and Kaitlin Kelly netted the matches final goal at 1:13 to clinch the victory for Fitchburg State.
Both goalies played outstanding between the pipes as sophomore Haley Erickson (Saugus, MA) and Brown finished with 12 saves apiece while Brown finished with five ground balls and three caused turnovers.
The Falcons finished with leads in shots (35-27) and ground balls
(43-35) while the Lancers had a 15-11 edge in draw controls.
Worcester State will take the week off before they travel to Westfield State as they continue NEWLA play while Fitchburg will head up to Rivier on Tuesday for a 7 PM non-conference contest.