Newton, Mass. – The Lasell College women's lacrosse team defeated Emerson College 11-7 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference semifinals, setting up a rematch of last year's championship game versus Norwich University. The victory was the fifteenth of the season for Lasell, who are 15-2 on the year, while Emerson slipped to 8-7 on the season.
Lasell sophomore Bridget Ryan (Chatham, N.J.) scored a game-high four goals for Lasell, while junior Ashley Slattery (Weymouth, Mass.) finished with three goals and two assists. Junior Rebecca Stanton (Agawam, Mass.) and sophomore Britney Wuorio (Bolton, Mass.) each chipped in a pair of goals for the Lasers.
Mackenzie Johnson (Pasadena, Md.), Tracie Lombardo (Seaford, N.Y.), and Kayla Dowd (Avon, Conn.) each tallied a pair of scored for Emerson.
Emerson opening the scoring when Mackenzie Johnson's shot found the back of the net 2:17 into the opening half, and Lasell's Slattery answered right back to tie the score at 1-1.
The Lions again pulled ahead, 2-1, with an Alex Corrado goal on a nice feed from Tracie Lombardo at the 26:45 mark. Slattery would equalize 23 seconds later for Lasell, tying the game at 2-2. After a free position goal by Tracie Lombardo gave the Lions a 3-2 lead with 22:19 left in the first half, Lasell tallied three consecutive goals, two by Bridget Ryan and one by Slattery to take a 5-3 lead.
Johnson again took advantage of a free position opportunity to cut the Lasell lead to 5-4 with 15:25 remaining in the opening half. After almost ten scoreless minutes passed, Ryan found the goal for the third time in the opening half to give Lasell a 6-4 lead which they held going into the break.
Lasell opened the second half with Britney Wuorio finishing a beautiful pass from Slattery to put the hosts up, 7-4 just 57 seconds into the half. The Lasers threatened to break the game open when Rebecca Stanton gave Lasell an 8-4 lead with 25 minutes to play in the game, but Emerson would not go quietly. The Lions clamped down defensively, holding the hosts scoreless for the next 12 minutes, and scoring once themselves to trim the Lasell deficit to 8-5.
Ryan scored for Lasell with 12 minutes remaining to put the Lasers up 9-5, and a pair of goals by Stanton and Wuorio pushed the hosts lead to 11-5 with 8:22 to play. Emerson got a free position goal from Kayla Dowd and another score by Lombardo to cut their deficit to 11-7 with 3:55 remaining but the Lions were unable to draw any closer.
Alexa Katsigianis (Amherst, N.H.) earned the win in goal for Lasell, saving 12 of the 19 shots on frame, while Emily Saeger (Center Valley, Pa.) took the loss, despite tallying 13 saves on the afternoon.
Lasell will travel to Norwich University on Saturday April 28th for the GNAC championship game, with the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament hanging in the balance.