By Keith Brouillard, Fitchburg State SID
FITCHBURG, Mass. –- The Fitchburg State women’s lacrosse team snapped its three-game, winning streak this afternoon, falling to Bridgewater State College, 20-11 in New England Women’s Lacrosse Alliance action at Elliot Field. With the win, the visiting Bears extended their winning streak to six games.
Senior Katie DeMaio (Port Jefferson Station, NY) and Shannon Manning (Framingham, MA) led Bridgewater State to its fifth consecutive victory after combing for 17 points throughout the contest. DeMaio led all scorers with a game-high nine points on six goals and three assists, while Manning notched eight points with three scores and five dishes. Junior Jenny Jones (Framingham, MA) was also solid on the Bears attack, rounding out the top three threats with six points on five markers and a helper.
The Bears broke open a tight, two-goal affair (5-3) early in the second half, touching for 15 scores over the final 30 minutes of play. Bridgewater started the second-half on the offensive end, totaling three of their 15 markers in the opening five minutes. Jones sparked the Bridgewater pursuit with a pair of scores just four minutes in, before White upped the Bears lead to five (8-3) with a tally at the 24:45 mark.
The Falcons answered immediately, cutting the Bridgewater lead to only four (9-5) as sophomore Amanda Burns (Weymouth, MA) collected back-to-back goals in a span of 19 seconds. The Bears held off the Fitchburg State comeback however, using a pair of three-goal rallies over the next ten minutes of play to post a commanding 14-6 advantage. Bridgewater quickly grabbed a six goal lead (12-6) with scores by Jones, DeMaio and Patricia Maloney (Walpole, MA) while silencing the Falcons attack moments later with a trio of scores by Manning and DeMaio.
The loss snapped Fitchburg State’s three-game unbeaten streak as freshman goaltender Abbie Brown (Westwood, MA) suffered her first setback in four contests. The rookie net-minder totaled six saves over 51 minutes play, while Bears’ goalie, Meghan Griffin (Billerica, MA) played sensational with 17 stops in her complete game effort.
Bridgewater State maintained a slim 36-33 shot margin throughout the contest while the Falcons tallied a 28-22 advantage in groundballs to keep the game tight. Burns led all Falcon scorers with a team-best five points on five goals, while senior Emily Swan (Franklin, MA) added one goal and three assists.
Fitchburg State (8-6, 2-3 NEWLA) will be back in action on Thursday as it hosts Framingham State at 7 p.m. Bridgewater State (10-4, 4-1 NEWLA) will host Westfield State on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
Notes: Both Jones (194 goals) and DeMaio (192 goals) moved past Laura Swart (2000-2003) on the Bears' all-time goal scoring list. Manning (211 goals), Jones and DeMaio are now 1-2-3 among Bridgewater's career goal scoring leaders....Manning now has 40 assists on the year which is the fourth highest single-season total in program history. Manning holds the record with 49 assist in 2008, followed by Paula Habel (2000-2003) with 47 in 2002 and Habel again with 41 in 2003....Manning has 139 assists in her career which is second only to Habel's BSC career mark of 152....Griffin posted her 33rd career goaltending victory which is one shy of Jo-Ellen Murgo's (1998-2000) all-time BSC mark of 34.