FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- Second-seeded Framingham State University defeated #3 Bridgewater State University, 18-10, in the semifinal round of the 2018 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Women's Lacrosse Tournament on Thursday night at Maple Street Field.
With the win, the Rams improve to 16-2 on the year on the year and advance to the tournament championship game. Framingham will face top seed Westfield State University in Westfield on Saturday afternoon at three.
The Bears see their season come to a close with an overall record of 12-7. Bridgewater's streak of five straight MASCAC Tournament championship game appearances also came to an end.
The Rams were paced by four goals and four assists from sophomore Grace Gamache (Dartmouth, Mass.). With her second tally of the game, Gamache became the fifth Ram to reach the 100-goal plateau.
Freshman Alissa Marino (Trumbull, Conn.) chipped in with four goals for the hosts, while senior Kimmy Foley (Mansfield, Mass.) tallied three and picked up two assists. Sophomore Nicole Pacheco (Woburn, Mass.) and junior Tess Destino (Gloucester, Mass.) each found the back of the net twice.
The Bears received two goals apiece from senior Gabby Reinold (Braintree, Mass.) and sophomores Hayley White (Dracut, Mass.) and Victoria McDonough (Marshfield, Mass.). Junior Elizabeth Ettridge (Marshfield, Mass.) contributed a goal and an assist for the visitors.
The Bears grabbed the early lead with a goal from freshman Lacey Dinning (Oak Bluffs, Mass.) off a feed from junior Kerrin O'Leary (Millbury, Mass.) just 33 seconds into the contest. The Rams offense came alive with an 11-0 run to take an 11-1 lead with just over 11 minutes showing on the clock. Gamache tallied three goals during the run, while Destino, Foley, Marino and Pacheco potted two goals apiece.
McDonough stopped the spurt with an unassisted tally and Haley Riley (Wakefield, Mass.) converted a free position shot to make it a 11-3 game. Goals from Marino and Destino were answered by a free position strike from White as Framingham would take a 13-4 lead into the locker room.
The Bears opened the second half with three straight markers including two from Reinhold to cut the gap to 13-7. The Rams, however, scored five of the next six to push the lead back to ten (18-8) and thwart any hopes of a BSU comeback.
White and Ettridge found the back of the net for Bridgewater in the final three minutes to reach the final margin of 18-10.
Junior Indigo Fox Tree-McGrath (Bedford, Mass.) earned the win in net for the Rams making eight saves, while sophomore Hayley Barner (Westwood, Mass.) took the loss and made four saves.
Framingham held a 30-21 shot advantage for the game as well as an 18-12 edge in draw controls. Gamache led all players with an impressive 15 draws, while McDonough paced the Bears with seven.