Fitchburg State Powers Past Elms, 18-8

White lead Falcons to second victory of the season with six goals

CHICOPEE, Mass. (March 27, 2014) – The Fitchburg State women's lacrosse team used six goals from Lindsey White (Hanover, Mass.) and four each from Ali Laferriere (Tyngsboro, Mass.) and Kayla Panek (Belchertown, Mass.) to post a convincing 18-8 victory over Elms College in non-conference action this evening.

With the loss, Elms moves to 1-5 on the season, while Fitchburg State improves to 2-3 overall.

Fitchburg State provided a balanced attack netting nine goals in each half, while Elms found the back of the net four times in each stanza. The Blazers were led by junior attacker Nora McDonough (Agawam, Mass.) who netted a team-high three goals.

White opened the scoring at the 23:07 mark, immediately answered by sophomore attacker Jillian Pirog (Ludlow, Mass.) who netted the Blazers' first goal just over a minute later to even the game at 1-1.

Five minutes later, the Falcons began to pull away scoring six straight goals including three from White, and one each from Panek, Erin Murphy (Warwick, R.I.) and Brianna Dunn (Monson, Mass.). Elms rallied scoring three of the final five tallies of the first half as McDonough netted two markers, while junior midfielder Kayla Narey (South Hadley, Mass.) added a strike to set the halftime score at 9-4.

The second half opened with the Falcons scoring seven straight goals in the first 9:24 of the second frame to give Fitchburg State a commanding 16-4 advantage. Laferriere scored all four of her goals during the stretch, Panek added two tallies and White started the stretch with a goal to give the Falcons 12-goal cushion.

Blazers' junior attacker Lauren Mazza (Agawam, Mass.) broke up the rally with her first goal of the game. Two goals by White and Murphy set the score at 18-5 before Elms closed the game with the final three markers scored by Mazza, Pirog and McDonough.

Madeline Hoffman (Mansfield, Mass.) picked up four groundballs while Murphy and Dunn collected three each for the Falcons. Laferriere earned 13 draw controls, while goalkeeper Elizabeth Darrigo (Billerica, Mass.) turned away 11 shots to preserve the victory.

Fitchburg State will be back in action on Saturday as it visits Bridgewater State University.