Women's Lacrosse Falls to Worcester State in MASCAC Semifinals

WORCESTER, Mass. -- The winningest Bridgewater State University lacrosse season since 2014 came to an end Thursday night.

The fourth-seeded Bears fell behind early and were eliminated from the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference in the semifinal round by top-seeded Worcester State University, 19-14.

BSU finishes 14-5, recording the most wins since the 2014 team was 14-6.

The Lancers (12-6, seven straight wins) scored just 10 seconds into the game, held an 8-3 lead after one period and were up, 14-5, at halftime.

After trailing, 17-7, going into the final 15 minutes, the Bears made a run, getting as close as five goals with just under five minutes remaining, but that was as close as they would get.

The 19 goals are the most scored against BSU this season.

Senior attack Camryn Gonsalves (East Bridgewater, Mass.) finished her sensational BSU career by scoring seven goals -- five in the fourth period -- and adding an assist.

Gonsalves, the MASCAC's leading scorer, had 72 goals and 41 assists for 113 points this season.

Her career totals are 155 goals and 92 assists for 247 points.

Gonsalves ranks second all-time at BSU in points in a season, trailing only Shannon Manning, who tallied 120 in 2010.

She is fourth in goals in a season, seventh in career assists and 11th in career goals and points.

Junior Meredith Sylvia (South Dartmouth, Mass.) scored three goals and finished with 54 this season while freshman Taylor Carter (Walpole, Mass.) scored her fourth and fifth goals of the season to go with an assist.

Worcester State was led by senior Hannah Erickson (Dunstable, Mass.) with six goals and an assist while junior Molly Witkowski (Greenville, N.Y.) had four goals and six assists.

The Bears had defeated the Lancers on the road during the regular season, posting a 15-8 win on March 29. That was Worcester State's lone MASCAC defeat.

Junior Mckayla Fisher (Peabody, Mass.) and Gonsalves scored in the opening 46 seconds to make it 1-1, but the Lancers scored the next three goals with senior Ashley Hurley (Feeding Hills, Mass.), senior Abbie Wing (Griswold, Conn.) and Fisher making it 4-1.

After BSU graduate student Savannah Herrington (Kinnelon, N.J.) scored with 4:41 left in the period, Witkowski, Wing, Madison Kelley and Erickson had goals in the last 3:56 while the Bears managed only a goal from Sylvia as the Lancers led, 8-3.

After Erickson and Witkowski pushed the lead to 10-3, Sylvia and Gonsalves scored for BSU, but Erickson scored three times in just over four minutes and sophomore Kerry Brown (Billerica, Mass.) added a goal for the 14-5 halftime lead.

Sylvia and Carter scored for the Bears in the third period and Witkowski and Brown had goals for the Lancers before a Witkowski goal with 15 seconds left pushed the lead to 17-7.

Worcester State's largest lead was 18-7 on a goal by Erickson with 13:03 remaining but the Bears scored six straight goals to close within 18-13 with 4:50 to go.

Carter started the streak with 10:04 left and after a Erin McIntyre (Tewksbury, Mass.) score less than a minute later, Gonsalves had four straight goals in a span of 3:24.

But Fisher stopped the rally with 3:39 left and Gonsalves scored her final collegiate goal with 45 seconds to play.

Freshman goalkeeper Sara Skaff (Lowell, Mass.) had 13 saves for the Bears. Olivia LaValle (Peabody, Mass.) stopped 15 shots for the Lancers.

Worcester State had a 32-30 edge in shots on goal and 20-17 in groundballs. The Bears had a 20-15 advantage in draw controls.

The Lancers will host the MASCAC championship games Saturday at 11 a.m.