Women's Lacrosse Advances to NEWLA Title Game

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Junior midfielder Courtney Lennon (Medfield, MA) scored five goals and added an assist to lead the Bridgewater State College Bears to a 16-11 victory in the semifinal round of the 2010 New England Women's Lacrosse Alliance (NEWLA) Tournament.

The top seeded Bears, winners of ten straight games, improve to 14-4 with the tournament win.  Bridgewater will advance to the conference championship game for the third straight season as they will play host to third-seeded Castleton State College on Saturday at 2.  Castleton, which handed the Bears their only conference loss of the season, edged #2 Westfield State, 18-17, in the other semifinal matchup.

Senior midfielder Shannon Manning (Framingham, MA) added two goals and three assists for the Bears, while sophomore attack Kristin White (Pelham, MA) chipped in with three goals.

Bridgewater used the strength of six straight goals midway through the first half to take an 8-2 lead.  The Bears would head into the intermission with a comfortable 13-5 advantage.  BSC outshot the Falcons, 25-17, in the opening stanza and held an 11-8 edge in draw controls.

In the second half, Fitchburg limited the Bears to just three goals on ten shots, with Lennon scoring two of BSC's three goals in the final period.  The Falcons pulled to within five goals twice (including the final score) but could not get any closer.

Both teams struggled mightily in free position attempts as they were a combined 3-for-18.

Junior attack Kaitlyn Kelley (Pepperell, MA) paced the Falcons (10-7) with five goals, while freshman attack Jamie Kelley (Pepperell, MA) added three goals and an assist.

Bridgewater State senior goaltender Meghan Griffin (Billerica, MA) turned aside 12 shots to register her 14th win of the season.  Freshman netminder Abbie Brown (Westwood, MA) made nine saves between the pipes for the Falcons.