Milestone Day for Lasers, Ends in 2OT Loss

Newton, Mass. (4/18/13) – The Lasell Women's Lacrosse team dropped their first game since March 14^th, 20-19 in double overtime, as they hosted Western New England in non-conference action. The Golden Bears improve to 11-5 overall, well maintaining a conference record of 5-1. The Lasers meanwhile go to 11-3 on the season, while maintaining an unblemished conference record at 8-0.

Britney Wuorio (Bolton, Mass.) led the Laser attack as she reached the 200-goal plateau of her career with a game-high eight goals and even chipped in with one assist. Senior co-captain, Ashley Slattery (Weymouth, Mass.) also contributed offensively with four goals and two assists, as she set a new school record for most points in a career, while fellow classmate and co-captain Rebecca Stanton (Agawam, Mass.) recorded two goals on the day, which allowed her to reach the 100-goal milestone in her career. Sammy Long (Staten Island, N.Y.) was credited with the loss as she turned away 14 of the 34 shots on goal that she faced.

Western New England was led offensively by the scoring trifecta of Jessica Scannapieco (Blue Bell, Pa.), Kaitlynn Stevens (Stratford, Conn.), and Taylor Scialdone (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) who each tallied five goals for the Golden Bears on the afternoon, while freshman Brook Kumnick (Granby, Conn.) contributed with three of her own to help get the win. Emily Castleman (Wilbraham, Mass.) was able to record the win as she faced 28 shots on frame, making nine saves.

The first 30 minutes of play was action packed as both teams traded the lead, which also saw a total of 16 goals. Western New England's Kumnick kicked off the scoring as she netted an early goal at the 27:40-mark to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. The ensuing possession for Lasell, resulted in the first of Wuorio's eight goals as she made it 1-1 for the hosts with 26:26 to go in the half. The goal was assisted by Ashley Slattery and marked the senior's 323^rd point of her Lasell career, a new career record in the history of the women's lacrosse program.

The Lasers would celebrate again about three minutes later as Doherty would score her first of three on the day to make it 2-1. With Lasell leading 4-2, following goals from Rebecca Stanton and Slattery, the Golden Bears went a brief scoring frenzy as they netted four straight to make 6-4 and give themselves the lead with 11:34 remaining. Before the horn sounded at the end of the first half, Wuorio tallied four more goals for the Lasers, while Kumnick would score a pair to knot the half at 8 all.

The second half saw even more action as each team was about to find the back of the net to register 10 goals each. The Golden Bears struck first as Scialdone and Kelsey Sherman (Buchanan, N.Y.) each scored in the early minutes to give their team a 10-8.  The duo of Ashley Slattery and Britney Wuorio answered back for the Lasers to bring them even at 10-10 with 25:04 on the clock.

Neither team was able to pull away with scoring and lead changes coming often. With 15:54 remaining in regulation WNE's Kaitlyn Stevens scored courtesy of a Kelsey Sherman assist, to take the lead 13-12. But a goal by Slattery at 14:56 and a free position goal by Wuorio at 13:53 helped Lasell into the lead, 14-13.  As the clock rolled down to 6:17, the visitors would take a slim 16-15 lead, as Scannapieco and a pair from Stevens would help keep things close.

With under four minutes, the Lasers would battle back into the lead to make it 18-16 as they Slattery, Wuorio, and Caitlyn Brecher each scored in a 50-second span, but the Golden Bears rallied back to push the game to overtime as Scannapieco and Scialdone knotted it at 18-18.

In the first overtime, Kaitlynn Stevens would score for the WNE to make it 19-18 with just 28 seconds remaining. The second extra period saw Taylor Scialdone net an unassisted goal for WNE to make it 20-18. A free position goal by Stanton made it 20-19, but sound defense by the Golden Bears and time wouldn't allow the Lasers to push things any further.

The Golden Bears have two games remaining on their schedule as they are set to travel to Curry on Saturday before closing out their regular season at home on Wednesday, April 24 as they host Endicott. The Lasers meanwhile, will close out their 2013 campaign and honor their seniors in GNAC action against St. Joseph (Conn.) on Saturday April 20^th at 2:00 p.m.