Westfield Outlasts Women's Lacrosse 9-8

WESTFIELD, Mass. – The Lasell College women's lacrosse team slipped away from the Westfield State Owls, 9-8, in nonconference action at Alumni Field Thursday night. With the loss, Lasell drops to 3-3 overall while Westfield State improves to 3-3.

After heading into halftime tied at 6, the Owls scored the first three goals after the break to take a 9-6 lead midway through the second half.

Sophomore attack Samantha Coyle (Weymouth, Mass.), who scored a team-high three goals on the evening, scored Westfield's first two goals of the second half. Coyle gave the Owls a 7-6 lead four minutes into the half when she took a pass from sophomore midfielder Stephanie Godek (West Springfield, Mass.) and quickly deposited it in the back of the net. On her next goal, Coyle scooped a loose ball in heavy traffic in front of the Lasell net and beat Lasers goalkeeper Brooke Bergeron (Swampscott, Mass.) for an 8-6 lead with 19:30 remaining.

Less than a minute later, freshman attack Alexa Tonelli (Shrewsbury, Mass.) scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal on an 8-meter free-position shot.

In the final ten minutes, Lasell scored two goals and had its chances to tie the game, but could not find the equalizer.

First, senior attack Bridget Doherty (Franklin, Mass.) scored on a feed from sophomore midfielder Taylor Yandow (Moretown, Vt.) with 9:12 remaining to the cut the Owls lead to two goals, 9-7. Then, senior attack Taylor Dooley (Barnstable, Mass.) lofted a soft shot over the top of Owls goalkeeper Mimi Khampaeng (Hampden, Mass.) to pull Lasell within one goal with 4:42 left.

With just over a minute remaining, Yandow, who led Lasell with two goals and an assist, had a one-on-one with Khampaeng in the arc, but her shot sailed wide of the net and the Owls survived the scare.

Khampaeng made 10 saves to earn the win for Westfield, while Bergeron made 7 saves in the loss.

Coyle led Westfield with three goals and an assist, while Godek added a goal and an assist of her own. Godek has now scored a goal or dished out an assist in each of the Owls games so far this season. Freshman attack Liz Navoni (Mansfield, Mass.) scored her first collegiate goal to give the Owls a 5-3 lead late in the first half.

Lasell senior captain Ashlee Pechulis, the daughter of Westfield State coach Jeff Pechulis, scored a goal against her father's team in the first half, deking left before beating her defender to the right and firing a top-shelf goal to tie the game at 3 with 11:57 remaining in the first half.

Both teams return to action on Saturday, March 26, as Lasell takes the long haul to Norwich for their GNAC opener at 1:00 p.m., while Westfield State travels to Dudley, Mass. for a 2:30 p.m. showdown with Nichols College.

Recap Courtesy of Westfield Sports Information