NEWTON, MA- Chelsea Caren (Redding, CT) and Ashley Slattery (Weymouth, MA) each scored a hat trick for Lasell College today in their season debut against Westfield State University; however it was not enough to stop the Owls from taking home a 17-12 non-conference victory over the Lasers.
Westfield was led by the outstanding effort of senior attack Laura Chiricosta (Lexington, MA) who scored a hat trick of hat tricks, finishing the day with nine goals. Fellow senior Rachel Dionne (Feeding Hills, MA) along with junior Carly Keeley (Feeding Hills, MA) and sophomore Ari Colella (Franklin, MA) added two goals each for the visitors.
Jill Robinson (Salem, MA) earned the win in the Owls net making six saves in sixty minutes, while Lasell goalie Kristin Coderre (Monson, MA) recorded 16 stops in a losing effort.
Dionne opened scoring 49 seconds into the game after being awarded a free possession attempt. The Lasers' defense shut down Dionne's free shot, however the senior midfielder held onto the ball and waited for better opportunity moments later to put the Owls on top.
Keeley added to the visitor's advantage less than 30 seconds later, taking control of the draw and sprinting down field to curl around the net and fire in a weak-side shot.
The Lasers responded three minutes later, knotting the score, 2-2, in similar fashion. Caren put Lasell on the board scoring on the second of back-to-back free possession attempts. Slattery then tied things up after winning the ensuing draw and driving through the lane to score less than a minute later.
Chiricosta tallied the first goal of her initial hat trick at the eight minute mark on a breakaway, assisted by Danielle DeBurgo (Dartmouth, MA). She followed that goal up with her second tally after a collecting a ground ball at midfield and tearing down the side line to score at 14:08.
An eight minute drought in scoring followed on both sides of the field before Colella put Westfield ahead 5-2 taking help from Dionne. Lasell's freshman attack Bridget Ryan (Chatham, NJ) replied notching her first collegiate mark after breaking from the midfield and splitting a double-team to bounce in a low shot past Robinson.
Chiricosta added a pair of goals in a one minute span to boost the visitors' edge to four, however, Slattery concluded the period with a free possession goal to bring score to 7-4 at halftime.
The Owls more than doubled up on the Lasers total shot attempts in the period, firing off 19 shots to Lasell's nine. The visitors also held a 7-5 edge in draw controls in the half.
Neila Kudla (Groton, MA) started the scoring action in the second half to bring Lasell back within a two point margin of the Owls. After another Chiricosta goal and a Caren tally brought the score to 8-6, the visitors went on a 5-1 run to bring about a six goal lead (13-7) with 18:16 left to play.
Lasell answered with a 3-1 stretch, inclusive of Caren's third mark as well as Britney Wuorio (Bolton, MA) and Ryan's second goal each which cut the lead to just four, but the Lasers would get no closer than that for the rest of the contest. Slattery capped scoring in the final minute to complete her trio of goals and bring about the final outcome.
Wuorio and Ryan both ended the contest with three points for Lasell adding an assist to their two goals, and freshman Jen LeMoine (Trumbull, CT) netted one goal in her collegiate debut.
Throughout the contest, Westfield held a 41-21 edge in scoring and won outright on 22-of-31 draw controls. Keeley led all players collecting nine draw controls and also tied with Chiricosta for a game-high five ground balls each.
Lasell (0-1) will hit the road on Thursday, March 10th for their next non-league game when they challenge Curry College at 4:00 p.m.