Worcester, MA- On Wednesday evening, the Worcester State Women's Lacrosse team opened their 2023 season, taking on Smith College in a competitive non-conference battle. The Lancers were defeated by the Pioneers 15-7 in a tightly contested battle.

Heading into the game, Worcester State's main goal was to begin the new season on a positive note. For the first five minutes of the game, the Lancers prevented Smith College from sending shot attempt at Worcester State goalie first year Andrea Rennie (Marlborough, Mass.). At the 9:17 mark of the opening period, first year Mckayla Fisher (Peabody, Mass.) was able to not only score the Lancer's first goal of the season but put her team up 1-0 on the scoreboard. A minute later, Smith College responded when Sadie Tachider made a nice spin move in front of Rennie to tie the score at 1-1. Smith College continued to dominate the middle portion of the first period when Tatum Galuski found the back of the net to give the Pioneers a 3-1 lead. Thirty-five seconds later, Caroline Sanders scored her second goal of the game to create a 4-0 scoring run for Smith College and made Worcester State call a timeout. With 90 seconds remaining in the opening period, Tachider achieved a hat trick as the score became 6-1. Seven seconds later, Emma Butterick was able to net goal number seven for Smith College as the first period ended with Smith College leading 7-1.

As the second quarter began, Worcester State was determined to take back control of the scoring. Worcester State executed their objective quickly, getting back on the scoreboard when Fisher nailed a shot to cut the Smith College lead to 7-2. Senior Shea Jarvis scored her only goal with under 2:30 remaining in the first half to make the game 8-3. For the remainder of the second period, the Worcester State defense held strong sending the game into the halftime break 8-3.

Leading into the beginning of the second half, Worcester State tried to chip away at their five-goal deficit. As the rain poured down, Sydney Haick sprinted past the Lancer's defense as she opened the second half, scoring as she pushed the Pioneer's lead to 9-3. Under twenty seconds later, Reese Gittelman pushed Smith College's goal total to double digits as the Pioneer's lead advantage was seven goals. Fisher achieved her second goal on the evening when she fired the ball into the wet net to make the score 10-4. Luckily for Worcester State, the momentum continued eighteen seconds later when first year Abigail Vincent (Lakeville, Mass.) inserted her name onto the stat sheet when she cut the Smith College goal advantage to five. Smith College was able to react to Worcester State's quick two-goal burst the continuous fight of the Lancers showed when Vincent scored her second gold of the night to make the game score 11-6 heading into the final period of regulation.

A hat trick alert occurred for Worcester State tonight when Fisher scored Worcester State goal number seven of the evening. Later into the period, Tschider could not only score her sixth goal of the night but push the goal lead up to seven for the second time. As the game clock struck under three minutes, Caroline Sanders increased the Smith College lead to 15-7 wrapping up the scoring on the evening.

Fisher led the team with four goals in the game while Rennie made eight saves in the game.

What's next:

Worcester State (0-1) will be back on the road on February 25 for a noon faceoff against Wellesley College. Smith College (1-0) will return to their home turf on February 25 when they take on Southern Maine for a 1:00 start time.