Women's Lacrosse Downs Westfield State, 9-5, on Senior Day

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – The Bridgewater State University Bears posted a key 9-5 New England Women's Lacrosse Alliance (NEWLA) victory over the visiting Westfield State University Owls on Senior Day at Swenson Field.

Bridgewater (8-7) remains unbeaten in NEWLA play with a 6-0 league mark as the Bears took a big step towards capturing their fifth straight conference regular season title.  Westfield falls to 7-7 overall and 6-1 in the NEWLA.

BSU midfielder Stephanie Lannon (Swampscott, Mass.), the only senior on the Bears' roster, paced the hosts with four goals on the afternoon. 

Lannon notched her first goal of the day with just eight seconds left in the opening stanza to give BSU a 4-2 lead at the intermission.  Westfield senior attack Carly Keeley (Feeding Hills, Mass.) opened the second half scoring to pull the Owls to within one, but the Bears answered with three straight goals, two by Lannon and one by freshman attack Riley Cachelin (Westwood, Mass.), to push the advantage to 7-3 with 13:55 remaining.

Westfield responded with back-to-back markers by Keeley and senior attack Nicole DiPilato (Shrewsbury, Mass.), but that would be as close as the Owls would get.  The Bears closed out the scoring with a goal by sophomore attack Melanie Appleman (Hyannis, Mass.) at the 10:12 mark followed by Lannon's fourth tally of the day with 7:39 remaining.  

Junior midfielder Michelle Navoni (Mansfield, Mass.) added a goal and an assist for the Bears to go along with five controlled draws and a pair of caused turnovers.  Sophomore midfielder Taylor Clancy (Braintree, Mass.) tallied a goal, three draws, four ground balls and two caused turnovers, while Cachelin and Appleman chipped in with a goal and an assist apiece.

Freshman netminder Jessica Polaski (Agawam, Mass.) turned aside five shots to post her third win of the season between the pipes for the Bears.  Polanski also registered three ground balls.

Keeley led the way for the Owls with three goals and a helper.  Freshman goaltender Hannah Joyce (Acton, Mass.) made four saves, while junior defender Tiffany Carhart (Wilbraham, Mass.) notched three ground balls and three caused turnovers.

Bridgewater outshot Westfield by a slight margin of 15-14, while the Bears held a 9-7 advantage in draws as well as a 14-12 edge in ground balls.

Bridgewater wraps up regular season and NEWLA play next week with a pair of road matches at Salem State University and Elms College.  The Bears take on the Vikings on Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 and face the Blazers nest Saturday at five.  Westfield hosts conference foe Worcester State University in their season finale on Thursday night at seven.

Notes: Bridgewater has won 23 consecutive NEWLA regular season and tournament games.  The Bears are also 41-1 versus NEWLA opponents since rejoining the conference prior to the start of the 2008 season.