NEWTON, Mass. – The Lasell College women's lacrosse team opened their season with an 11-3 non-conference win over Curry College Thursday afternoon on Grellier Field.
Junior midfielder Bridget Munnelly (Bellingham, Mass.) and senior midfielder Toni Minelli(Newington, Conn.) each recorded hat tricks and an assist to lead the Lasers. Munnelly added a game-high six ground balls, a game-high six draw controls and four caused turnovers, while Minelli picked up two ground balls and caused three turnovers. Freshman attack Taylor Yandow(Moretown, Vt.) and junior attack Bridget Doherty (Franklin, Mass.) each chipped in with two goals, while freshman attack Danielle Chambrelli (Cheshire, Conn.) added her first career collegiate goal in the victory.
Curry received goals from sophomore midfielder Malorie Knowlton (Norfolk, Mass.), sophomore attacker Rachael Lawrence (Hanover, Mass.) and sophomore attack Lauren Carroll (Providence, R.I.). Knowlton picked up a game-high six ground balls and caused a game-high six turnovers. All 12 members who played in the field for the Colonels picked up at least one ground ball in the effort.
Lasell opened the scoring with four straight goals from Minelli, Yandow, Munnelly and Chambrelli over the opening 8:27 of the first half. Yandow netted her first collegiate goal at 25:33 on a free position attempt, while Chambrelli potted her first of her career on a feed from Munnelly at 21:33. Curry answered with a free position goal from Carroll to make the score 4-1 in favor of the Lasers.
The Lasers scored four of the five goals over the remaining minutes of the opening stanza. Yandow scored her second free position goal with 11:38 left on the clock, while Munnelly netted her second on a pass from classmate middy Ashlee Pechulis (Westfield, Mass.) at 8:48 to take a 6-1 advantage. Doherty tallied her first goal of the season on a feed from classmate midfielder Ashley Gleason (Suffield, Conn.) and Minelli scored on a pass from Doherty for the Laser's eight goal of the half. Knowlton was able to register a goal with 2:29 on the clock for Curry's second goal of the game and made the score 8-2 at the break.
In the second stanza, Munnelly and Pechulis connected again for Munnelly's third goal, while Doherty scored via Yandow to make the Lasers' lead 10-2. Minelli would score again for the Lasers, while Lawrence found the back of the net for the Colonels on the man-up advantage at the 14:00 mark off an assist by sophomore Kelly Parker (Branford, Mass.). The score remained the same for the remainder of the half, as Lasell claimed its season opener 11-3.
In the net for the Lasers, senior goalkeeper Alexa Kastigianis (Amherst, N.H.) made seven saves on ten shots. Colonels' goalkeeper Christina Wallis (Peabody, Mass.) registered nine saves in the effort.
Lasell converted on 11-of-19 clear attempts and held a 13-3 advantages in draw controls. Curry was successful on 14 of its 24 clears and maintained a slim 29-27 margin in groundballs.
Lasell (1-0) heads to MIT in non-conference action at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 7 while Curry (0-1) travels to Bradenton, Fla. on Sunday, March 8 to face-off against Emmanuel (Mass.) 7:00 p.m. (Game Recap Courtesy of Lasell Sports Information)
