MILTON, Mass. – The Curry College women's lacrosse team stumbled out of the gates and failed to recover, falling 17-7 to the Worcester State Lancers on Tuesday night. The loss evens the Colonels' record at 4-4 while Worcester State moves to 3-2 on the year.
The Lancers took control early on in the contest, collecting the first five goals of the evening within the first seven minutes of play. Curry didn't let the early deficit subdue them, however, as they used the remaining time in the first half to rattle off four goals of their own while surrendering just one as they entered the intermission with a 6-4 score. Freshman Sharon Doherty (North Easton, Mass.) had a hand in all four tallies, grabbing three assists and a free position goal. While the scoring was modest in the first frame, three yellow cards were issued to each side.
Out of the break, Worcester State converted a lingering man-up opportunity as Madison Brennan (Pomfret, Conn.) found the back of the net. Just over three minutes later, Rachel Hopkins (Chelmsford, Mass.) brought the edge back to four with another Lancer goal. Abby Dubel (Wolfeboro, Mass.) answered with her second marker of the day off the ensuing draw control, but two more unassisted goals found their way into the goal in favor of the Lancers within 56 seconds of Hopkins' score to make the score 10-5. Sporting a player advantage, Katie Parker (Branford, Conn.) scored on a free position opportunity, but the Colonels struggled once again to shut down their visitors, as the following two minutes saw just as many goals scored by Worcester State, making the score 12-6. With less than 16 minutes to play in regulation and trying to claw back, the Colonels started a comeback effort as Katie Tarr (Atkinson, N.H.) found Doherty who scored once more to make the score 12-7, but the remainder of the game did not hold good news for the hosts.
After Worcester State put in two more scores to gain a 14-7 advantage, matching yellow cards were assessed to Brennan and Dubel with 12:40 left on the clock. Neither team was able to get their offense going during the 10-on-10, but it took only 66 seconds for another card to come out. This time it would be a red card on Tarr, which put Curry down a player for the remaining 11 and a half minutes. The Lancers would use the advantage to close the game on a 5-0 run to wrap up a 17-7 win. Kelly Austin (Brimfield, Mass.) found the net three times over the late rally while Ann Maher (Mansfield, Mass.) dished out three helpers.
Austin lit up the score sheet with five goals while Doherty led all players with six points (two goals, four assists). Brennan made an impact with six draw controls to help the Lancers control the ball while Dubel picked up a game high eight ground balls. Chloe O'Brien (Sturbridge, Mass.) improves to 3-2 on the year with five saves while Jessica Ginaitt (Warwick, R.I.) slides to 4-4 and adds 10 saves to her season total.
Worcester State will follow the victory by returning home for a match up with the Salem State Vikings on Saturday, March 30. The MASCAC opponents are scheduled to start at 12:00 p.m. in both teams' first conference game of the season. The Colonels will resume their conference schedule with their next game, as the Wentworth Leopards come to Milton on Thursday, March 28. The Commonwealth Coast Conference foes will kick things off at 4:00 p.m.
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