Westfield, MA --- Westfield State sophomore Stephanie Lenhardt (Duxbury, MA) finished with seven points and classmate Amanda Bouchard (Lexington, MA) added five goals as the second-seeded Owls defeated #3 Worcester State, 16-4, in the MASCAC Women's Lacrosse Tournament semifinals this evening.
The Owls (11-4) move to the conference championship game to take on top-seeded Bridgewater State on Saturday at 1 PM. The Lancers, who are now 12-5 with the setback, await word on a possible ECAC Division III New England Tournament bid.
Lenhardt recorded four goals and three assists for the hosts while senior Maura Stack (Wilbraham, MA) chipped in with a hat-trick and three helpers. Defensively, freshman Mimi Khampaeng (Hamden, MA) had a team-best four ground balls and junior Lee Meskevich (Becket, MA) had four draws.
Senior Daryl Powell (Beverly, MA), sophomore teammates Angela Grassetti (Agawam, MA), Jaclyn Lawlor (Westford, MA) and Michelle Tully (Tewksbury, MA) all potted markers for the Lancers.
Lawlor had a squad-high three draws while freshman Mackenzie Callini (W. Springfield, MA) had a game-best five ground balls.
After the Owls opened the contest with the 5-0 advantage over the first 10 minutes of game play with five different goal scorers, Powell hit one home for Worcester State for the 23rd helper of the season by freshman Jackie Connors (Ashland, MA).
Lenhardt tallied less than a minute later before Grassetti found the back of the net for the 6-2 score. But the hosts ended the opening period with a 6-0 run with a pair of markers by Bouchard and Lenhardt.
With running time on their side, Westfield State found the back of the net three times – as Bouchard scored twice – before Lawlor netted an unassisted goal at the 14:17 mark.
Senior Sadie Graham (N. Andover, MA) sent one in for the Owls and Tully registered a marker for WSU in the last minute of the game for the final score.
Khampaeng stopped eight of her 12 shots on the evening while senior Alex Chisholm (N. Brookfield, MA) collected six saves for the Lancers.
Westfield State led in shots (29-15), ground balls (23-16) and doubled up the Blue and Gold in draws (15-7).
With seven forced miscues, the Lancers broke the single-season school record for caused turnvoers in one campaign (157).