Worcester, MA - The Worcester State Women's Lacrosse (2-1,0-0) hosted the Simmons University Sharks (2-2, 0-0) in their fourth game of the new season. After Worcester State displayed an assertive performance and secured their second win of the season against the Wellesley Blues in their home opener, the Lancers look forward to maintaining their momentum against the Sharks.
FINAL:
LANCERS: 16
SHARKS: 10
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The game would get off to a quick start after the Lancers won the opening faceoff, leading to graduate student Shea Jarvis (Auburn, MA) scoring the first goal of the game and opening the floodgates. Shortly after, senior Cameron Richards (Lexington, MA) would respond after a controversial no-call creating a 1-1 game just minutes into the game. But the no-call would be no weight on the Lancer's shoulders as six consecutive goals later, Worcester State would be up 7-1 with 4:00 minutes remaining in the first quarter. That was until the Shark's junior Maddie Maloney (Newburyport, MA) would score their second of the game which was quickly canceled out by yet another Worcester State goal by first year Abigail Wing (Griswold, CT). Worcester State would find themselves eager to head into the second quarter with a chance to carry their bold momentum and put the game to rest early.
As both teams marched back onto the field, looking for more goals, opportunities would come, but through heroic saves by both goalkeepers and various missed chances, would result in a dry scoring period. With the rain picking up and weighing heavy on both teams, the game would find a way to keep a clean sheet throughout the entire second quarter. After an impactful first quarter, the score remained 8-2 as both teams head to their respective corners looking to win this high scoring matchup.
The missed opportunities would continue to build until things finally struck when Jarvis would score just ten seconds into the third quarter. Simmons would end their goal drought as well with a combination of carefully crafted passes and leaving graduate student Riley Wasiuk (Rutland, MA) with an easy shot, allowing the ball to soar past junior Olivia LaValle (Peabody, MA).
The Lancers would capitalize on two consecutive penalty shots and increase their lead to eight goals and make the score 12-4. The lead would then increase to nine with another first year Madigan Kelly (Bourne, MA), which would result in her and Jarvis both recording hat tricks in this match in an impressive showing from the grade ranging attacking duo.
With the Lancers still maintaining a healthy lead with 13:29 left to play in the contest, the two most impactful Lancers on the field, Jarvis and Erickson, would combine to get another goal on the board to make the score 15-6. The Sharks would score another goal in transition to make it 15-7 and with about 9 minutes left to go the Sharks would have a couple of attacking sequences halted by the Lancer defense. The Lancers would grab goal number 16 off of a sophomore Molly Witkowski (Greenville, N.Y.) to Wing passing sequence that would look to be putting the game away. In the final seven and half minutes of action, the Sharks would look to make a comeback rally as sophomore Cambell Crane (Portsmouth, R.I.) and junior Frida Turriza (Windham, N.H.)would combine for three more goals, but the Lancers defense backed by La Valle would see the bid come to nothing s the Lancers grabbed a 16-10 victory.
La Valle would end the night with 11 saves in her first win of the season with the Lancers, while Erickson and Jarvis would end with 5 points each in the action
WHAT'S NEXT:
After the win against the Simmons Sharks (2-3,0-0), the Lancers move to (3-1,0-0) and look forward to facing the Southern Maine Huskies (1-1, 0,0) on March 9th in an away matchup set for 12pm.