MILTON, Mass. – The Curry College Women's lacrosse team defeated Worcester State, 20-8 in non-conference action Thursday night at the Walter M. Katz Field. With the win the Colonels improve to 4-6 on the season while the loss drops the Lancers to 1-4 overall.
Curry was led by a six-point effort from senior Kelly Parker (Branford, Conn.). Parker tallied five goals and dished out an assist. She also led all players with eight draw control wins and six ground balls. Defensively Parker caused three turnovers.
Senior Malorie Knowlton (Norfolk, Mass.) finished with five points on four goals and an assist. Knowlton also had three caused turnovers. Two players had four-point efforts. Senior Abby Carnevale (Beverly, Mass.) and freshman Abby Dubel (Wolfeboro, N.H.) each netted a hat trick and helped on one. Carnevale won five draw controls while Dubel led in caused turnovers with five.
Seniors Lauren Carroll (Providence, R.I.) and Rachael Lawrence (Hanover, Mass.) finished with three points each on two goals and an assist. Freshman Courtney Lima (New Bedford, Mass.) rounded out the scoring with one goal. Freshman Kayla Merritt (Attleboro, Mass.) dished out an assist, had three draw controls, three ground balls and had one caused turnover.
The Lancers were led by junior Mackenzie Little (Marlboro, Mass.) who tallied a hat trick and had an assist for four points. Little also won five draw controls. She was followed by senior Alaina Martin (E. Longmeadow, Mass.) and junior Alexis Vecchiarelli (Agawam, Mass.) who each had two scores and a helper for three points. Freshman Kelly Austin (Verona, N.Y.) had one goal and junior Hayley Sutherland (Tewksbury, Mass.) had an assist.
Worcester got on the board first 1:27 into the opening frame off a goal by Little who was assisted by Sutherland. Curry answered back just 36 seconds later off an unassisted tally by Carnevale. The Colonels Knowlton followed over a minute later to take an early one goal lead. The Lancers however would tie the game at two apiece when Little netted her second on the day off a pass from Vecchiarelli. Curry again responded with two with tallies, one by Lima from Knowlton and an unassisted score by Dubel. Worcester tied the match for the last time at four after Vecchiarelli fired one in off an assist by Little followed by an unassisted goal by Martin. The Colonels netted back-to-back scores, the first on a man-up goal by Lawrence with an assist from Dubel and the next from Knowlton with an assist by Carnevale. Vecchiarelli scored the fifth and final goal of the half for the Lancers to cut the lead down to one but a three-goal scoring spree by the Colonels gave them a 9-5 advantage heading into half-time. Parker scored her first of five in the game with less than four minutes to play off a pass from Carroll. Parker followed with 1:19 showing on the clock on a man-up goal. Carnevale ripped one into the back of the net with 55 seconds remaining before the horn blew for intermission.
The Colonels had a strong showing in the second half outscoring the Lancers, 11-3. Worcester was first to strike 2:20 into the frame on a free position shot by Martin. Curry netted the next two also off free position shots. Knowlton earned her second of the game while Parker her third. With 20:27 showing on the clock, Little tallied her third and final score off a pass from Martin. The Lancers wouldn't score again until the last 2:00 minutes of the game. Curry fired in nine goals before Austin stopped the run to finish the game. On the run the Colonels got two goals from Dubel, Carroll and Parker and one from Knowlton, Lawrence and Carnevale. Parker and Merritt each had an assist.
Senior goalkeeper Rachel Smith (Arlington, Mass.) recorded five saves for the win in net. Senior Krissy Pessa (Walpole, Mass.) made nine stops in goal while dropping her record to 1-4.
Curry returns to action Saturday as they travel to Nichols College for conference matchup slated for 11:00 a.m. Worcester is set to host Framingham State on Sunday for a 7:00 p.m. game.
