Hamilton Holds Off Owls, 10-6

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Hamilton College held on for a 10-6 win over Westfield State women's lacrosse in the at the SpringFling Tournament in Panama City Beach, Fla. on Thursday.

Westfield is now 2-4 overall this season after splitting a pair of games on the Florida trip.   Hamilton improved to 4-3 with the win.

Trailing 6-1 at the half, Westfield rallied in the third quarter with four goals from Christina Roncarati (East Longmeadow, Mass./Pope Francis) and one from Mercedes Rozzi (S. Burlington, Vt.) to reel the Continentals' lead back to 9-6 entering the fourth quarter.

Hamilton's Sarah Wright tallied with 5:45 left in the game to cap the scoring after the two teams went more than nine minutes without a goal to start the fourth quarter.

Westfield got another strong performance in goal from senior Izzy Conley (N. Salem, N.Y.), who made 15 saves.   Conley has made 14 or more saves in each of the Owls six games this season.  Roncarati led Westfield's offensive attack with five goals. Rozzi added one, while Marena Morales (Tolland, Conn.)  and Bri McPhillips (Montgomery, N.Y.) were credited with assists.

Hamilton's Eliza Schwarz made 6 saves in the win.  Maddigan Leifer and Julia Lee each scored three goals to lead Hamilton.  The duo combined for five of the Continentals six first half goals in building the first-half lead.

Hamilton had a 28-13 advantage in shots on the afternoon.  The Continentals won 12 draws to the Owls seven.

Westfield was 2-3 on free position shots while Hamilton connected on 2 of 5. 

Westfield will be off until Wednesday, March 25, when the Owls host Colby College, the #9 ranked team in the nation, in a non-conference game at Alumni Field in Westfield.  Draw time is 5:00 p.m.