Women's Soccer Claims Regular Season Title; LaFrancesca Earns 150th Career Victory

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (10/21/17) – The Lasell women's soccer team earned its sixth Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) regular season title on Saturday evening with a 2-0 victory over Johnson & Wales at the Scotts Miracle Gro Complex in Providence, R.I. Lasell locks in the No. 1 seed for the GNAC postseason and home field advantage throughout, and will host Suffolk University in the quarterfinal round on Saturday, October 28.

The conference victory comes as a milestone for Head Coach Vito LaFrancesca, who earned his 150^th win at the helm of the program.

"I have been blessed with such great players," said LaFrancesca. "We have always been in this journey together."

The Lasers finish at 10-1 in the GNAC and improve to 10-5 overall. Johnson & Wales drops to 9-1 against league opponents, and suffers its first loss in ten games at 14-3 overall.

The Wildcats held an 11-6 advantage in shots overall, as the home team owned a 60/40 possession advantage throughout the first half. JWU ripped off three shots in the opening 15, two on net that were turned away by senior keeper Sarah LaClair (Belchertown, Mass.). In the 32^nd minute, junior Carly Zdanek (Newton, N.J.) used her lightning speed to save the ball from going out of bounds to preserve a Wildcat goal kick. In the attempt, Zdanek was tripped up inside the box as the Lasers were awarded a penalty kick. Junior Erika Badger (Scituate, Mass.) was given the task, and slid the eventual game winner to the left side of JWU netminder Colleen Lynch.  

The Lasers came firing out of the gates in the second half, and scored their goal of insurance in the 76^th minute. Zdanek was again the play-maker, and used her speed to go one on one with Lynch, who deflected the bid about 30 yards out. Lynch was far off her line as Melissa Vasquez (Pawtucket, R.I.) collected the deflection, and buried the ball far post from way outside the 18 yard box. The Wildcats had their opportunities to get on the board, one of their best being in the 83^rd minute as Olivia Cairrao took a final bid for the Wildcats, but her shot soared above the crossbar, as the clock ticked down to zero.

LaClair made three saves in her 10^th win of the season and 24^th career shutout. Lynch drops to 14-2 overall and recorded one save in the drawback.

The Lasers step out of conference for their final regular season contest on October 26 with kickoff against the Framingham State Rams slated for 3:00 p.m at Taylor Field. The Wildcats will wrap up the regular season at Emmanuel for a conference clash on October 25 at 7:00 p.m.