#4 Fitchburg State Falls To #1 Bridgewater State, 13-2

Top-seeded Bears advance to NEWLA championship match

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. (May 2, 2012) – Fourth-seeded Fitchburg State traveled to top-seeded Bridgewater State University this evening and fell to the Bears, 13-2 in semifinal round action of the 2012 New England Women's Lacrosse Alliance playoffs.

With the victory, Bridgewater State (11-7, 8-0 NEWLA) advances to the championship round and will host second-seed Westfield State University on Saturday at 7 p.m. Fitchburg State concludes its season with an overall record of 7-10 and a 5-3 mark in the conference.

In a strong defensive first half, Bridgewater State grabbed a 5-0 lead by the break, using a pair of goals from sophomore Taylor Clancy (Braintree, Mass./Braintree) and single scores from Stephanie Lannon (Swampscott, Mass./Swampscott), Michelle Navoni (Mansfield, Mass./Mansfield) and Sammi Salverio (Hanson, Mass./Whitman-Hanson).

After ten minutes of scoreless action, the Bears got on the board first as Lannon hit home for first goal of the season at the 18:05 mark. Clancy and Navoni followed with back-to-back scores over a 0:29 period to push the lead to 3-0 before Salverio and Clancy closed the half with one score each over the final two minutes of the stanza.

In the second half, it was all Bridgewater State as the Bears connected for eight unanswered markers to clinch the victory.  Lannon (3) and Clancy (2) paved the Bears' second half efforts with five combined goals, while Navoni chipped in with a marker. The Falcons finally got on the board with 6:42 remaining in the contest as sophomore Chelsea Roberts (Newburyport, Mass./Newburyport) hit home with her 14th goal of the season with a feed from Carissa Kennedy (Somerset, Mass./Bishop Stang). Freshman Amber Nunes (New Bedford, Mass./New Bedford) followed with her fourth marker of the year to cap the Fitchburg State scoring.         

For the contest, the Bears limited the Falcons to just seven shots, including just two targets in the first half. Bridgewater State led all statistical categories, totaling a 23-7 advantage in shots, 27-22 margin in groundballs and a 9-7 lead in draw controls.

Between the pipes, sophomore Dylana Drolette (Burlington, Vt./Burlington) collected nine saves, while Kennedy posted a team-best seven groundballs and two draw controls. Sophomore Victoria Moore (Duxbury, Mass./New Hampton Prep) finished with four stops in net for the Bears.