Lasell Women's Lacrosse too strong for Saint Joseph (Conn.)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Senior Taylor Yandow (Moretown, Vt.) and freshman Kellie Matthews (Walpole, Mass.) combined for seven goals and five assists Saturday afternoon to lead Lasell College past the University of Saint Joseph (Conn.), 19-4, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) women's lacrosse game at the USJ Lacrosse Field.

The Lasers extended the winning streak to six games, improving to 11-3 overall and 7-2 in the GNAC. The Blue Jays drop to 3-9 overall and 0-9 in conference games.

Yandow tallied four goals and two assists for the Lasers, while Matthews contributed three goals and three assists. Lasell had a balanced scoring attack, with freshman Hannah Thurston (Hanover, Mass.) and sophomores Chloe Shugrue (Worcester, Mass.) and Jorgia Bergin (Sandwich, Mass.) adding two goals apiece, and sophomore Sam Taylor (Hanover, Mass.) contributed a goal and two assists.

Lasell rattled off a huge run to start the match scoring nine unanswered goals to build a comfortable 9-0 advantage. Taylor opened the scoring for the Lasers 49 seconds in before Yandow netted back-to-back goals to make it 3-0.

After a goal by Matthews, Yandow completed a first-half hat-trick with a man-down goal to push the visitors' lead to 5-0. Four different Lasell players would score the ensuing four goals, including the fourth of the game from Yandow, to make it 9-0 with 14 minutes left in the opening half.

The Blue Jays halted the Lasell run after junior Annmarie Masayda (Watertown, Conn.) marched down the field and scored to get USJ on the board and make it 9-1.

Lasell and USJ would trade the next two goals to bring the score to 10-2 with just over 10 minutes left in the first half. Thurston scored for Lasell, while sophomore Charlotte Eberhardt (Thomaston, Conn.) answered for the Blue Jays.

Back-to-back goals by the Lasers pushed the lead to 12-2 before senior Hannah Lemek (Bristol, Conn.) found the back of the cage for USJ with 1:45 left in the opening period to trim the deficit to 12-3. It marked the team-leading 19th goal of the season for Lemek. However, Matthews linked up with sophomore Mandy Brock (North Haven, Conn.) to beat the halftime buzzer at make it 13-3 heading into the intermission.

Lasell opened the second half right where they left off and struck first with the second goal of the game from Thurston before Eberhardt netted her second goal of the game to make it 14-4. It would be all Lasell from there as they scored five goals to end the game and account for the 19-4 final margin.

Eberhardt found the back of the cage twice and assisted on another to lead the offensive charge for the Blue Jays. She also picked up a pair of ground balls. Lemek tied for a game-high with six draw controls for the Blue Jays to go with her goal in the game.

Senior Emily Bourassa (Bristol, Conn.), who has played every minute of every game in her career for the Blue Jays between the pipes, finished her career at home with an impressive 15 saves. Sophomore keeper Morgan Choquet (Woonsocket, R.I.) picked up the win in goal for the Lasers to improve to 11-3 and made three saves. USJ was outshot in the match by the Lasers, 41-9.

Lasell is back in action next with its final game of the regular season on Tuesday at home versus Saint Joseph's College of Maine beginning at 4:00 p.m. USJ will conclude the 2018 season with a road GNAC match on Monday evening against intrastate rival Albertus Magnus at 6:00 p.m.

(Courtesy of USJ Athletic Communications Sports Information)

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