BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – The Bridgewater State University women's lacrosse team captured their fourth straight New England Women's Lacrosse Alliance (NEWLA) Tournament title and sixth overall as the top-seeded Bears downed number two seed Castleton State College, 15-8, in the NEWLA Championship game on Saturday afternoon at Swenson Field.
Senior attack Jenny Jones (Framingham, Mass.) paced the hosts with six goals and one assist as Bridgewater (17-1) will now advance to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the second straight season and third time in program history.
Leading 5-4 late in the first half, the Bears scored four straight goals and outscored the Spartans 6-1 over the final six minutes to head into the intermission with a commanding 11-5 advantage. Jones scored three times during the 6-1 run while senior midfielder Courtney Lennon (Medfield, Mass.) added two goals and an assist.
Castleton (12-5) would not get any closer than six goals the rest of the way with Bridgewater getting up by as many as eight twice in the second half (13-5 and 15-7). After Castleton freshman midfielder Blake Wardwell (Bridgewater, Vt.) tallied the final marker of the game with 3:25 remaining, the Bears won the ensuing draw and did not give up possession the rest of the way to run out the clock.
Bridgewater held a 27-17 shot advantage for the game as well as a slight 13-12 edge in controlled draws. Defensively, the Bears limited NEWLA Offensive Player of the Year Marie Van Der Kar (Manchester, Vt.) and Rookie of the Year Amanda Flodstrom (Stratham, N.H.) to just one goal on three shots. The duo entered the game with combined totals of 92 goals and 31 assists on the season.
In addition to Jones' seven-point performance, Lennon finished with three goals and an assist, while junior attack Kristin White (Pelham, Mass.) added a goal and a game-high three assists. Sophomore midfielder Michelle Navoni (Mansfield, Mass.) chipped in with two goals and a helper.
Senior netminder Katie Weber (Arlington, Mass.) turned aside six shots to post her 17th win of the season.
Junior midfielder Stephanie Paproski (Newtown, Conn.) paced the Spartans with three goals and a pair of assists. Junior midfielder Angelica Mazzola (Centerport, N.Y.) added a goal and two assists while freshman goaltender Ashly Neal (York Beach, Maine) made eight saves between the pipes.
The announcement of the 31-team NCAA Division III Tournament field will be webcast on NCAA.com on Sunday evening at 9:30 PM with first round play getting underway on Wednesday, May 11th. The Bears are one of 17 conference champions who received the automatic qualification (AQ) into the tournament.
Notes: With her four points, Lennon became just the fourth player in BSU women's lacrosse history to eclipse the 300-point milestone as she joins Shannon Manning (384 pts.), Jones (376 pts.) and Paula Habel (336 pts.)…Jones now has 73 goals on the season which is second only to her own single-season school mark of 79 goals set in 2010…The BSU women's lacrosse team also won NEWLA Tournament championships in 1999, 2003, 2008, 2009 and 2010…The Bears first NCAA Tournament appearance came in 2003...Bridgewater and Castleton have met in each of the last four NEWLA Championship games with the Bears winning all four.