Box Score
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -A slow start sent the Smith College lacrosse team to a 19-9 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference defeat to Springfield College on Tuesday afternoon. The Pride has now strung together two-straight wins to improve to 7-5, 2-2 in league play, while the Pioneers fall to 3-9, 0-3.
Jessica Lillquist (East Lyme, Conn./East Lyme) finished the afternoon with three goals and a helper, and Rachel Silveria (Dunstable, Mass./Groton-Dunstable) was credited with four draw controls to go along with two goals. Petru Bester (Deep River, Conn./Valley Regional) also posted two goals, and Savannah Lawson (Oak Bluffs, Mass./Martha's Vineyard) made six saves in the loss.
Kelly Gallo tallied three goals and an assist in the opening 11:46 to pace the Springfield offense, while five other players recorded three points, including Emily Fowler, who netted a hat trick. Anne Versprille played the first 24:09 in goal, and notched a save while giving up two goals, and Carly Elkin appeared in the final 35-plus minutes, registering five saves.
Springfield set the tone early, with Gallo burying a feed from Kerstin Lindrooth just 16 seconds into the contest. After Lindrooth added an unassisted marker of her own 30 seconds later, Lillquist scored the visitors first goal at the 28:46 mark.
Gallo ripped an unassisted strike at 28:06, kickstarting an 11-0 surge by the Pride as it opened up a 13-1 lead. Bester slipped in a goal for Smith at the 10:34 mark to make it a 13-2 contest, but Aly DiCiancia and Danielle Kaprielian finished feeds from Sam Malette to push the lead to 13 at 15-2.
The Pioneers closed out the first-half scoring on another unassisted goal from Lillquist and a free-position goal by Kate Detrick (Petaluma, Calif./Sonoma Academy).
In the second half, the visitors outscored Springfield, 5-4, although the Pride had the game in its grasp throughout. A Folwer goal 2:48 into the second half pushed the lead to 14, only to have Smith get as close as nine on Bester's second strike with 4:59 left in the game. DiCancia found the back of the cage on Colleen Keeley's third assist of the afternoon 25 seconds later to close out t the scoring as Springfield completed the 10-goal victory.
Springfield will turn around and square off with Trinity on Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 pm. Smith will travel to Babson College for a 1 p.m. start on Saturday.
(Parts of this story courtesy Springfield College)
