BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – The Bridgewater State University women's lacrosse team wrapped up regular season play with a 20-7 victory over Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) foe Salem State University on Friday night at Swenson Field.
Bridgewater improves to 15-2 on the season and 6-0 in the MASCAC. The Bears are the top seed in next week's inaugural MASCAC Women's Lacrosse Tournament and will receive a first round bye.
Salem falls to 4-9 overall and 1-5 in conference play. The Vikings will have to wait for the outcome of tomorrow's Westfield State/Mass. Maritime game to determine if they have earned a spot in the conference tournament.
Bridgewater jumped out to a 9-0 lead after just 17 ½ minutes of play as junior midfielder Taylor Clancy (Braintree, Mass.) tallied three goals and junior attack Melanie Appleman (Hyannis, Mass.) and freshman attack Alexis Hadcock (East Lyme, Conn.) each scored twice during the run.
The Bears, however, went into a scoring drought over the next 17 minutes as the Vikings scored three straight goals, including two by senior midfielder Bridget Dullea (Peabody, Mass.), to cut the deficit to 9-3. Senior attack Jill Caramello (Duxbury, Mass.) answered for the Bears with just six second left on the first half clock to give BSU the 10-3 lead at the intermission.
Salem would get no closer than eight goals the rest of the way. The Bears would go on to score the final four goals of the contest, capped off by a Mariah McKenna (Plymouth, Mass.) strike, to cruise to the 20-7 win.
Caramello led all players with six points and she registered four goals and two assists. Clancy added four goals and a helper to go along with eight ground balls and two caused turnovers, while Appleman notched two goals and two assists. Hadcock and sophomore attack Riley Cachelin (Westwood, Mass.) each finished with three goals and an assist.
Also filling the stat sheet for the Bears were senior midfielder Shelby Farland (Fiskdale, Mass.), freshman midfielder Lauren Geary (Hull, Mass.) and senior defender Michelle Navoni (Mansfield, Mass.). Farland tallied a goal and four assists to go along with four ground balls, two draw controls and three caused turnovers, while Geary led all players with 14 draws in addition to a goal and three ground balls. Navoni registered a game-best ten ground balls.
Dullea paced the Vikings with three goals, five ground balls, two draws and three caused turnovers, while freshman attack Erin Riley (Wakefield, Mass.) chipped in with two goals and an assist as well as four ground balls.
BSU freshman Chandler Ross (Wrentham, Mass.) and sophomore Jessica Polaski (Agawam, Mass.) combined to make six saves between the pipes with Ross recording her 11th win of the season.
Salem freshman netminder Alex Varoutsos (Woburn, Mass.) was busy between the pipes for the Vikings as she turned aside 21 shots.
The Bears outshot the Vikings by a margin of 47-18 and held a 39-22 advantage in ground balls as well as a 20-9 edge in controlled draws.
Notes: Geary increased her school single-season record for draws to 175 as she ranks in the top four in all of Division III in the category…The Bears' 15 wins is tied for the second most in program history, trailing only the 2011 team which finished with 17 wins...The game also marked "Senior Night" as Caramello, Farland, Navoni and fellow seniors Olivia Galvin (Mashpee, Mass.) and Sammi Salverio (Hanson, Mass.) were honored in a pregame ceremony.