Top Seeded Bridgewater State, Second Seeded Westfield State To Meet For Inaugural MASCAC Women's Lacrosse Championship

Top-seeded Bridgewater State and second-seeded Westfield State will meet for the inaugural Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Women's Lacrosse Championship on Saturday afternoon, as the Bears and Owls advanced to the title match Thursday evening with respective home semi-final round victories over fourth-seeded Fitchburg State and third-seeded Worcester State

May 2, 2013

Click here for Bridgewater State-Fitchburg State box score

Click here for Westfield State-Worcester State box score

Courtesy Bridgewater State Sports Information

Bridgewater State 21, Fitchburg State 5

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Melanie Appleman (Hyannis, Mass.), Jill Caramello (Duxbury, Mass.) and Taylor Clancy (Braintree, Mass.) notched six points apiece to power Bridgewater State University to a 21-5 win over Fitchburg State University in the semifinal round of the 2013 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Women’s Lacrosse Tournament on Thursday night at Swenson Field.

Top-seeded Bridgewater (16-2) advances to the MASCAC championship game where it will host second-seeded Westfield State University on Saturday at one. The MASCAC Tournament champion will receive an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Bridgewater scored the first 19 goals of the contest to cruise to the win. The Bears led 15-0 at the intermission and scored four times within the first ten minutes of the second half to extend the lead.

Bridgewater held a 41-9 shot advantage as well as a 35-12 edge in ground balls. Draw controls were even at 14 apiece.

Appleman finished with three goals and three assists, while Caramello led all players with six goals. Clancy had a solid all-around game as she tallied five goals and an assist to go along with four ground balls, three draws and two caused turnovers.

Lauren Geary (Hull, Mass.), the MASCAC Rookie of the Year, added three goals, an assist, three ground balls, two caused turnovers and a team-best five draws for the Bears.

Also filling the stat sheet for the Bears were Riley Cachelin (Westwood, Mass.), Shelby Farland (Fiskdale, Mass.) and Alexis Hadcock (East Lyme, Conn.). Cachelin registered a goal and four assists, while Farland notched two goals, an assist, four ground balls, three draws and two caused turnovers. Hadcock chipped in with a goal, two assists and five ground balls.

Chandler Ross (Wrentham, Mass.) finished with four saves for the Bears as she notched her 12th win of the season.

Elizabeth Darrigo (Billerica, Mass.) turned aside 13 shots between the pipes for the fourth-seeded Falcons who end the season with an overall record of 6-12. Lindsey White (Hanover, Mass.) paced Fitchburg with two goals and three draws, while Markie Apple (Pittsfield, Mass.) and Chelsea Roberts (Newburyport, Mass.) notched a goal and two assists apiece.

Courtesy Westfield State Sports Information

Westfield State 16, Worcester State 4

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Stephanie Lenhardt scored a game-high seven points (4 goals, 3 assists), and Maura Stack (3 goals, 3 assists) and Amanda Bouchard (5 goals, 1 assist) each tallied six points to power Westfield State University to a 16-4 victory over Worcester State University in the semi-finals of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) women’s lacrosse tournament on Thursday evening, May 2.

No. 2 seed Westfield, 11-4, advances to the MASCAC championship game where it will face archrival and No. 1 seed Bridgewater State on Saturday, May 4. The championship game at Bridgewater begins at 1:00 p.m., with the winner receiving an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

With goals from five different players, the Owls jumped out to a 5-0 lead, forcing the Lancers (12-5) to call a timeout nine minutes into the game.

Westfield led at halftime, 12-2, and shifted into cruise control the second half when it outscored Worcester, 4-2.

The Owls again played well defensively, dominating the ground balls, 23-16. Freshman goalie Mimi Khampaeng finished with eight saves and team-high four ground balls.

Westfield controlled the draw controls, 23-16, with Lee Meskevich and Megan Griffin each recording four draw controls. Griffin also had two goals and one assist.

Stack now has 207 career points, becoming the third player in the Westfield women’s lacrosse program’s seven-year history to score more than 200 points.

No player had multiple goals for the Lancers. Goalie Alex Chisholm registered six saves.