Women's Lacrosse Stops the Charge, Defeats Colby-Sawyer, 16-10

TV-3 Chartercom First-Half Highlights (Starts At 1:12 Mark)

Worcester, MA --- Sophomore Molly Kilday (Westford, MA) netted a season-best five goalsHighlight while first-year Jackie Connors (Ashland, MA) recorded six points to help Worcester State defeat Colby-Sawyer, 16-10, in non-conference women's lacrosse action this evening at Coughlin Field.

Colby-Sawyer (2-6) got off to a hot start with a 3-1 run to start off the contest.

Freshman Sara Berry (Bowdoinham, ME) opened the scoring with her tally at the 25:34 mark before senior Laurel Bauer (Bradford, NH) and first-year Maryalice Gurnee (S. Portland, ME) each netted markers 1:05 apart for the 3-1 advantage with 15:15 left in the half.

The Lancers (6-1) answered right back with a 3-0 spurt to tilt the score back in their favor.

Kilday sandwiched a goal in between a pair of strikes from Connors for the 4-3 advantage with 9:07 on the clock.

The Chargers regained the lead with two straight markers from senior Kate Rial (Chester Springs, PA) and freshman Caitlyn Whearty (Hampstead, NH) at the 4:56 mark and with 3:31 left in the first period, respectively, for the 5-4 edge.

In the final 2:00 of the opening stanza, the Blue and Gold scored twice more before intermission while Colby-Sawyer added one of their own to go into the half all knotted up 6-6.

Out of the break the visitors started fast again with two quick goals. Sophomore Carly Baker (Beverly, MA) found the back of the net at 27:53 before senior Ashley Reis (Stowe, VT) sent one home at 26:12.

Worcester State then rattled off seven straight scores over the next ten minutes including a trio from Kilday to lead 13-8 with 14:03 left in regulation.

Baker tried to lead a comeback as she potted her second goal of the contest at 8:31 making the score 13-9. 

However, the Lancers went on a 3-1 mini spurt to run out the final 6:14 of game time to cruise ahead for the triumph.

Sophomore Angela Grassetti (Feeding Hills, MA) and senior Daryl Powell (Beverly, MA) each registered a pair of goals while junior Vicki O'Brien (Canton, MA) added a hat trick to join Kilday and Connors with multi-goal efforts.

Connors ended the night with a hat-trick and three helpers to maintain her team lead in points with 29.

Defensively, Powell lead the way with five draw controls as freshman classmates Mackenzie Callini (W. Springfield, MA), Kalia Chase (Northbridge, MA) and Katelyn Murphy (Billerica, MA) added four ground balls apiece.

Baker and Whearty each recorded two goals for the Chargers while second-year Alyssia Janak (Bourne, MA) and classmate Nichole Danehy (Billerica, MA) added a pair of helpers.

The Lancers led the way in shots (28-17) and groundballs (31-18) while both squads were even in draw controls (14-14).

Senior Alex Chisholm (N. Brookfield, MA) stopped five shots in the victory and freshman Karley Hamilton (Bradford, VT) registered six saves in the defeat. 

WSU will begin conference play on Saturday when they travel to Bridgewater State for a 7 PM affair and Colby-Sawyer returns home to take on UMaine Farmington Saturday at 1 PM.

Story By John Hanna --- Sports Information Graduate Assistant