Lax Holds Bears at Bay, 10-8

WESTFIELD, Mass. –  Westfield State University got four goals from Christina Roncarati, three from Morena Morales, and a strong all-around team effort as the Owls held off Bridgewater State, 10-8 in a key MASCAC conference women's lacrosse game at Alumni Field on Saturday evening.

Westfield State improves to 3-0 in the league and 6-6 overall, while the Bears slip to 1-2 in the MASCAC and 3-10 overall.

Westfield led 2-0 a the end of the first period after a strong defensive effort, and led 7-3 at the half after Morales cashed in on a free position shot with 1:18 left in the half.

Bridgewater regrouped at the half and scored three of the first four goals in the third quarter, two off feeds from Sophia Fleurent, feeding Katie Lamothe in transition at 8:02 of the third to make it 7-4 then setting up Ashley Silva right off the draw with 5:55 left in the third to make it an 8-5 Owls lead.    Kate Fitzpatrick tallied with a wicked right-handed sidearm shot to trim the lead to 8-6 with 5:31 left in the third.

After a Kayli Bush goal for the Owls , Fitzpatrick added another side-armer at the end of the third to make it 9-7 heading into the fourth quarter.

Westfield's defense came up big, first with goalie Izzy Conley grabbing a big save on Taylor Carter  that led to an Owls transition, which was capped by Roncarati scooping up a loose ball in the fan and finding the back of the net at 10:17 of the fourth to give the Owls a 10-7 lead.   The goal for Roncarati was the 99^th of her career – including 57 at D1 St. Francis (Pa.) and now 42 this season as a grad student at Westfield State.

Bridgewater trimmed the lead to 10-8 with 4:39 left to play when Erin Henn tallied after scooping up a loose ball after a shot hit the post, but that was as close as the Bears would get.  Fitzpatrick hit the post with a minute left to play, but Leah Burchman garnered the ground ball for the Owls and Morales ran out most of the last minute of play by evading a host of Bridgewater defenders in the Owls defensive end.

Conley finished with nine saves in goal for the Owls while Sara Skaff stopped seven shots for the Bears.

Bridgewater was led by three goals from Meredith Silva, and two and an assist from Fitzpatrick.

The Bears had a 25-22 edge in total shots, both teams controlled 14 draws.   Westfield grabbed 20 ground balls to Bridgewater's 15, and the Owls were a perfect 20 of 20 on clear attempts.

Westfield will step out of conference for the last time this season on Tuesday, traveling to national #5 Amherst for a 6:00 draw.  The Mammoths wil be the third team ranked in the top 20 that the Owls have faced this season.