Yandow, Taylor Lead Women's Lacrosse Over Simmons 16-12

BOSTON, Mass. (4/3/17) – First year attacker Samantha Taylor (Hanover, Mass.) and junior midfielder Taylor Yandow (Moretown, Vt.) each scored four goals and added an assist to lead the Lasell College women's lacrosse team over host Simmons College this evening in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contest at Daly Field in Brighton, Mass. The Lasers improve to 5-3 overall and 2-0 in league play, while the Sharks fall to 3-6 and 1-1.

Lasell controlled the draw for most of the night, owning a 20-10 advantage, but committed 22 turnovers to the home team's total of 16.

Yandow led all players with seven draw controls to go with three ground balls and a caused turnover for the Lasers, while Taylor caused a pair of turnovers and picked up a ground ball and a draw control. Sophomore attacker Vanessa Pino (Methuen, Mass.) registered five points with two goals and three assists and added six draw controls and three ground balls. First year attacker Amanda Brock (North Haven, Conn.) and sophomore attacker Jillian Vergados (Tyngsboro, Mass.) each tallied a pair of goals and junior defender Taylor Falco (Hazlet, N.J.) led the defense with five ground balls and two caused turnovers. Senior goalie Bridget Delaney (Weymouth, Mass.) picked up the win, stopping six of 13 shots in the first 37:15 of action, before yielding to senior Brooke Bergeron (Swampscott, Mass.), who turned away five of 10 shots she faced in the final 22:45 of action.

Junior attacker Kasey Fries (Bridgewater, Mass.) led the Simmons offense with a game-high five goals on six shots, while sophomore midfielder Ana Giarrusso (Hingham, Mass.) turned in an all-around effort with two goals, two ground balls, five draw controls and four caused turnovers. Sophomore defender Mallory Cottam (Hope, R.I.) netted a pair of goals to go with two draw controls, a pair of ground balls and a caused turnover. Junior goalie Chyenne Yeager (Indiana, Pa.) made eight saves for the home team.

Junior attacker Kiera Kirkaldy (Middlebury, Vt.) and Fries sandwiched a goal each around a score from Taylor to give the Sharks a 2-1 edge with 25:49 left in the opening half. Vergados scored to tie the match at 2-2 and spark a five-goal run, including three goals from Yandow, to give the Lasers a 6-2 lead with 16:52 showing in the first period. Simmons scored three of the next four goals, including two from Fries to close to within 7-5 with 2:32 to go in the half, but Pino took a feed from Taylor and found the back of the net for Lasell with just 23 seconds left before halftime for an 8-5 margin.

The Lasers scored three times in a span of 94 seconds to open the second stanza and take an 11-5 cushion following a Vergados marker with 25:48 remaining in the contest. Fries stopped the opening barrage of scoring for the Sharks with her fourth goal of the game just 18 seconds later to cut the margin to 11-6. The teams traded goals with sophomore midfielder Elena Bragg (Belmont, Mass.) scoring at the 22:45 mark for Simmons to slice the deficit to 12-7. Each team traded a pair of goals over the next seven minutes to keep it a five-goal game at 14-9 with 15:09 to play in the game. Brock gave Lasell a 15-9 lead with a score at 9:03, but the Sharks scored three unanswered goals, including a marker from Giarrusso at 3:31 to pull Simmons to within 15-12. It was the home team's final score of the night as the Lasers' defense held the Sharks scoreless the rest of the way.