Women's Lacrosse Drops 10-8 Decision to Westfield State

By Jim Fenton

WESTFIELD, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University women's lacrosse team fell to 1-2 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference with a road loss Saturday night.

The Bears were handed a 10-8 setback by Westfield State University at Alumni Field.

BSU is 3-10 overall and has dropped four straight games while the Owls (6-6) are 3-0 in the MASCAC.

Senior Meredith Sylvia (Dartmouth, Mass.) scored all three of her goals in the second period for the Bears and leads the team with 27 goals and 34 points.

Freshman Kate Fitzpatrick (Methuen, Mass.) added two goals, giving her nine on the season, and an assist.

Westfield State graduate student Christina Roncarti (East Longmeadow, Mass.) scored four goals while sophomore Marena Morales (Tolland, Conn.) had three and senior Mercedes Rozzi (Burlington, Vt.) scored twice.

Bridgewater never led, falling behind, 2-0, after one period and 7-3 at halftime. The Bears rallied in the second half but could get no closer than two goals.

Goals by Rozzi at 2:04 into the game and Roncarti 1:35 later put Westfield State in front early.

Sylvia scored BSU's first three goals of the game with 14:16, 10:13 and 8:04 left in the first half.

The Owls had three goals from Morales in the second period and one each from Roncarti and Rozzi.

BSU scored three of the first four goals in the third period to get within 8-6 with 5:31 to go.

Senior Katie Lamothe (Dartmouth, Mass.), senior Ashley Silva (Rowley, Mass.) and Fitzpatrick had the goals with Roncarti scoring for Westfield State.

The Bears were down, 9-7, entering the final 15 minutes after Westfield State freshman Kayli Bush (Westfield, Mass.) and Fitzpatrick exchanged goals in the final 1:07 of the third period.

Roncarti pushed the lead to 10-7 with 10:17 remaining and junior Erin Henn (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) registered BSU's final goal with 4:39 to go.

The Bears nearly made it a one-goal game with just over a minute remaining but Fitzpatrick's shot hit the post. The Owls corralled the rebound and did not give up possession until right before time expired.

Bridgewater had a 14-6 edge in draw controls while Westfield finished with a 20-15 advantage in groundballs. BSU sophomore Sophia Fleurent (Fairhaven, Mass.) led all players with six draw controls.

The Bears outshot the Owls, 25-22.

Westfield State senior Izzy Conley (North Salem, N.Y.) had nine saves. Sophomore goalkeeper Sara Skaff (Lowell, Mass.) stopped seven shots for the visitors. 

The Bears will play a makeup game on Tuesday night at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy at 7 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for March 25.

Westfield State travels to Amherst for a 7 p.m. non-conference game Tuesday.