Worcester, MA- The Worcester State Lancers (8-7), 4-1 in the MASCAC, traveled to Maple Street Field tonight to take on the Framingham State Rams (8-6), who sit at 3-1 in the MASCAC. WSU is coming off a dominant 19-5 win against the Salem State Vikings last Friday.
Framingham started off hot within the first five minutes, scoring a total of three goals against Worcester's senior Savannah Rosado (Milford, MA), with two of those goals being scored by Rachel Erickson to give the Rams a 3-0 lead over the Lancers early. Worcester was able to answer back shortly after, once graduate student Clare Conway (Billerica, MA) was able to find senior Shea Jarvis (Auburn, MA) on the assist and score to cut the lead to two.
Framingham was able to increase the lead once again after a solo shoot-and-score before the Lancers fired back with three different goals within a matter of a couple minutes to tie up the game 4-4. The first one came at the hands of Conway where she maneuvered through defenders to record her 43rd goal of the season and give the Lancers hope.
The following two goals came through a pair of assists, with the first occurring when rookie McKayla Fisher (Peabody, MA) was able to assist senior Emily Pavoni (Granby, MA) on a play that left the Rams looking for defensive strategies. The next came when another rookie, Cailey Ryan (Acton, MA) found Jarvis for her second goal of the game and the tie.
The tie didn't last long, however, before the Rams matched the Lancer's efforts with their own three goals, two coming from Hannah Guerin, to give Framingham the 7-4 lead right before the end of the first quarter. Very soon into the second quarter, Jarvis and Conway connected once again for an assist-and-score, giving Jarvis her third goal of the game and her 35th on the year.
Framingham made it clear that this game would not be easy for the Lancers whatsoever as they locked down the rest of the half, not allowing anymore goals and scoring three more of their own; two coming from solo scores by Guerin, her fifth of the game.
HALFTIME: Lancers 5, Rams 10
Worcester was able to find themselves back on the board, taking advantage of Framingham's defense and scoring first in the third quarter once Fisher found her way into the net, dropping the total lead to four. The rest of the quarter was uneventful for both teams as the defenses stepped up until Framingham's Leah Green was assisted on two back-to-back goals to end the quarter and raise the lead back up to six.
The Lancers continued their trend of scoring first in the quarters similar to the last two once senior Lily Gendron (Lakeville, MA) found Conway to give her yet another score and keep Worcester in the fight. Framingham would continue to dash the Lancer's hopes to the side as they scored yet again two more to keep increasing the score, leaving WSU desperate for defensive answers before Jarvis scored her fourth goal of the game, this being her first solo shot.
Before the final minutes of the game, Conway and Jarvis were able to connect once again for their third of the game to give Worcester a total of nine points on the night.
FINAL: WSU 9 , Framingham St. 15
As the Lancers fall to 8-8, 4-2 in the conference, they will host their final game of the season at home Saturday, April 29th in a conference matchup against Fitchburg St. (5-8, 2-4) on the team's Senior Day to look and close out the season on a positive note and with a winning record.