BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Sophomore Jenny Jones (Framingham, MA) scored nine goals as the Bridgewater State College Bears edged Castleton State College, 19-16, in the championship game of the 2009 New England Women's Lacrosse Alliance (NEWLA) Tournament.
The Bears (14-4) captured the programs second straight NEWLA Tournament title and fourth overall. BSC has won 18 straight games against NEWLA opponents since rejoining the conference prior to the 2008 season. Bridgewater ended the season by winning each of their last seven games and 14 out of 15.
Two of Castleton's three losses on the season were to Bridgewater, including a 27-15 regular season defeat. The Spartans (13-3) should get a berth in the ECAC Division III New England Tournament which gets underway next week. The tournament pairing will be announced on Monday. Bridgewater, which advanced to the ECAC championship game in 2008, will not be competing in the ECAC Tournament this season.
With her nine goals, Jones set the BSC single-season goal scoring mark with 71. She broke her own record of 67 goals which was set just last season.
Jones also notched 102 points on the year edging out fellow Framingham native Shannon Manning (100 points) in the team scoring race. The 102 points is the second highest single-season total in BSC women's lacrosse history. Manning, who had two assists on the day, set the school record last season with 105 points.
Junior Katie DeMaio (Port Jefferson Station, NY) tallied four goals and three assists as she finished the season with 70 goals and 97 points.
Junior goaltender Meghan Griffin (Billerica, MA) turned aside ten shots to record her 13th win in goal for the Bears. Sophomore Kasey Sheehan (Bridgewater, MA) had a strong all-around game for BSC as she registered a goal and two assists to go along with three ground balls, two draw controls and four caused turnovers.
Junior Stephanie Pearce (Shoreham, NY) paced Castleton with seven goals, while sophomore Marie VanDerKar (Manchester, VT) added five goals, an assist, four ground balls, four draw controls and three caused turnovers. Freshman Stephanie Paproski (Newtown, CT) also played well for the Spartans as she filled the stat sheet with two goals, three assists, seven ground balls, three draws and three caused turnovers. Senior netminder Francesca Mazzola (Centerport, NY) made nine saves between the pipes.
The Bears trailed 6-5 with under ten minutes remaining in the first half, but used a four-goal outburst to take a 9-6 lead. BSC would never trail again in the contest and maintained at least a two goal lead the rest of the way.
Leading 11-9 at the intermission, Bridgewater tallied five of the first six goals of the second half to take control of the game. Jones netted four of the Bears' first five goals of the second half.
Down by six goals (17-11) with under nine minutes to go, Castleton put together a late rally to pull to within 18-15 led by a pair of goals by VanDerKar. But goals by DeMaio at the 4:05 mark and Jones with 1:14 to go thwarted Castleton's late comeback attempt.
Bridgewater held a 36-32 advantage in shots and a slight 19-18 edge in draw controls, while turnovers were even at 23 apiece. BSC converted on 5 of 7 free position attempts, while Castleton was 2-for-4.