Gonsalves Leads Women's Lacrosse to 17-11 Win Over UMass Dartmouth

By Jim Fenton

NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. -- Camryn Gonsalves (East Bridgewater, Mass.) had the top scoring game of her career to lead the Bridgewater State University lacrosse team Wednesday afternoon.

The senior attack scored a career-high eight goals and a career-best 10 points as the Bears improved to 3-0 with a 17-11 victory over UMass Dartmouth at Cressy Field.

It marks the first time since 2019 that BSU has opened a season with three straight wins, and all of them came on the road.

Gonsalves, who now was 99 goals and 62 assists in her career, surpassed her previous career-best performance, a six-goal game against UMass Boston last April 27.

Her previous best point total was nine, which she reached twice in the 2024 season as well as three days ago in an 18-8 win over Wheaton College.

BSU is now 15-1 against UMass Dartmouth, including 6-1 on the road. It was the first meeting between the two teams since 2018.

Gonsalves scored twice in the second and third periods and added four more in the final period. Gonsalves was two goals away from tying the BSU record of 10 goals in a game, held by three players.

Gonsalves also assisted on goals by junior Meredith Sylvia (South Dartmouth, Mass.) and added four caused turnovers and four ground balls. In three games, Gonsalves has 16 goals and 11 assists.

The Bears, who were playing without lead goal scorer Savannah Herrington (Kinnelon, N.J.), held a 7-6 halftime lead, then widened the margin to 12-8 after three periods before pulling away from the Corsairs (0-1) in the final 15 minutes.

The game was even after one period with senior Katy Shaw (Centerville, Mass.) and senior Erin McIntyre (Tewksbury, Mass.) scoring for BSU while sophomore Maddy Allen (Whitman, Mass.) and freshman Jenny Lipanovich (Henderson, Nev.) scored for the Corsairs.

BSU went up, 4-2, to start the second period on goals by Shaw and Gonsalves less than three minutes apart. After Allen scored to cut the lead to 4-3, the Bears scored three straight goals.

Junior Ashley Silva (Rowley, Mass.), Gonsalves and Silva scored for the Bears in 55 seconds to make it 7-3.

UMass Dartmouth answered with three goals in the last 2:57 to get within 7-6 at the half, graduate student Kyra Lyons (Attleboro, Mass.), Lipanovich and freshman Kyra DiBiase (Seekonk, Mass.) scoring.

The Corsairs scored the first two goals of the second half to take their first lead at 8-7 with Allen and Lipanovich scoring, but BSU netted five in a row to lead, 12-8, by the end of the period.

Gonsalves scored with 9:34 left followed by Shaw (9:15), Sylvia (7:05), Gonsalves (6:15) and graduate student Riley Bina (Abington, Mass.) scoring the last one with 2:28 to go.

The Corsairs made it 12-9 with a goal by Allen less than two minutes into the fourth period, but Gonsalves had two goals in less than two minutes for a 14-9 lead.

Sylvia put BSU up, 15-10, with 7:55 left and Gonsalves sealed the win by scoring with 6:26 and 4:30 remaining.

Freshman goalkeeper Sara Skaff (Lowell, Mass.) won her third game in a row, making eight saves. UMass Dartmouth freshman Keira Bushey (Haverhill, Mass.) had 17 saves.

Bridgewater held a 38-25 shot advantage while draw controls were even at 16 apiece. McIntyre registered a game-high eight draw controls and now has 225 in career (fifth all-time at BSU).

BSU plays its home opener Friday at 4 p.m. against the University of New England.

UMass Dartmouth is on the road Saturday for a 1 p.m. game against Wheaton College.