Lasell Women's Lacrosse sinks Simmons

NEWTON, Mass. – Junior Vanessa Pino (Methuen, Mass.), senior Taylor Yandow (Moretown, Vt.) and freshman Kellie Matthews (Walpole, Mass.) all had huge offensive performances Saturday afternoon as Lasell College defeated Simmons College, 21-6, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) women's lacrosse game on Senior Day at Grellier Field.

Pino led the way with 10 points for the Lasers, scoring three goals and tallying a school-record seven assists, breaking the previous mark of five assists in a game set by Tina Canavan in 2011. Yandow scored a career-high eight goals, added an assist and collected a season-high 10 draw controls, and Matthews contributed season-highs of six goals and seven draw controls along with one assist.

Lasell had a 37-14 advantage in shots and won 23 of 29 draws en route to their third straight victory, improving to 8-3 overall and 4-2 in GNAC games.

Senior Kasey Fries (Bridgewater, Mass.) and sophomore Kingsley Richards (Lexington, Mass.) scored two goals apiece to pace the visitors, but the Sharks dropped to 6-5 overall and 2-4 in conference play.

Yandow scored twice in the first minute and 13 seconds to stake Lasell to an early lead. After junior Mallory Cottam (Hope, R.I.) put Simmons on the board, Lasell rattled off six goals in a row to take an 8-1 lead at the midway point of the first half. Yandow and Matthews had two goals in that stretch and Pino was good for a goal and two assists.

The teams traded two goals each over the next five minutes before Lasell closed out the half with four unanswered markers to hold a 14-3 lead at the intermission. Freshman Molly Reinhold (Mystic, Conn.) and Richards had the Simmons goals, while Yandow and Matthews again scored twice each for the home team to wind up the half.

Lasell scored the first seven goals of the second half to put the game out of reach. Pino had a goal and three assists after the break while Yandow, junior Jordan McComb (Cumberland, R.I.) and Matthews all scored twice each. Simmons tacked on three goals in the final eight minutes of the game, one by Richards and two by Fries.

Laser sophomore Morgan Choquet (Woonsocket, R.I.) made three saves to earn the victory in goal, while freshman goalie Cat Cross (Beverly, Mass.) made nine saves for the Sharks.

Lasell's two seniors, Yandow and Taylor Falco (Hazlet, N.J.), were honored prior to the game as part of the traditional Senior Day festivities.

The Lasers are home again this Tuesday, April 10, hosting Albertus Magnus College in a GNAC contest at 4:00 p.m. Simmons returns home to host Norwich University of Tuesday (6:00 p.m.) in a GNAC affair.

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