By Jim Fenton

WORCESTER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University lacrosse team has exceeded its win total from a year ago, improving to 9-1 on Saturday.

The Bears began the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference schedule with a 15-8 victory over Worcester State University for their fifth straight win.

BSU was 8-11 a year ago and has already improved its win total with seven regular-season games left in April.

Head coach Erica Adams picked up her 91st coaching win as she joined Erika Smith (2006-11, 2013) as the all-time winningest coach in program history.

Junior Meredith Sylvia (Dartmouth, Mass.) and graduate student Savannah Herrington (Kinnelon, N.J.) each had four goals and an assist for the Bears.

Graduate student Riley Bina (Abington, Mass.) added three goals and an assists while senior Erin McIntyre (Tewksbury, Mass.) scored two goals and had a pair of assists.

The Bears scored five goals in the fourth period to pull away from the Lancers (5-5), who dropped their third game in a row.

BSU led, 10-7, after three periods when McIntyre scored 2:16 into the fourth period. Junior Abigal Vincent (Lakeville, Mass.) pulled Worcester State within 11-8 with 10:41 remaining, but the Bears scored the final four goals of the game.

Senior Camryn Gonsalves (East Bridgewater, Mass.), Bina, Sylvia and Herrington recorded goals in the span of 4:35 to seal the win.

The Lancers' only lead came at 1-0 when sophomore Kerry Brown (Billerica, Mass.) scored 2:01 in.

BSU was up, 3-1, after one period after goals by freshman Sophia Fleurent (Fairhaven, Mass.), Herrington and McIntyre in 5:21.

Herrington and Bina scored in the first minute of the second period for a 5-1 lead before Worcester State junior Molly Witkowski (Greenville, N.Y.) and Sylvia exchanged goals.

The Lancers closed within 6-4 with 10:45 left in the half when senior Abbie Wing (Griswold, Conn.) scored a pair of goals.

Bina and Herrington responded with goals 58 seconds apart to give BSU an 8-4 lead and junior Mckayla Fisher (Peabody, Mass.) moved Worcester State within 8-5 at the half.

Wing opened the second half with a goal to cut the deficit to 8-6 before Sylvia scored for a 9-6 lead.

Junior Shannon Donahue (Dennis, Mass.) scored for the Lancers with 2:20 left in the third period, but Sylvia pushed BSU's lead to 10-7 less than a minute later.

Freshman goalkeeper Sara Skaff (Lowell, Mass.) made five saves for BSU while sophomore Gianna Scarpelli (Medford, Mass.) played 3:20 in relief and had two stops.

Worcester State senior Olivia LaValle (Peabody, Mass.) had 21 saves.

BSU held the advantage in shots on goal (36-15), draw controls (17-9) and groundballs (30-27). Fleurent led all players with a career-best 11 draw controls.

The Bears will be home Tuesday night for a 6 p.m. non-conference game with Plymouth State University.

The Lancers will travel to New Hampshire to play Keene State at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday.