WATERVILLE, ME – Roger Williams University ran out to a 9-1 lead in the first half, then held off Westfield State late, in an 18-13 win over the Owls in a NCAA women's lacrosse tournament second-round game at Alfond Field at Colby College on Sunday afternoon.
The Owls' pandemic-shortened season comes a close with an 8-2 overall record, which includes a MASCAC Tournament title and a fourth straight NCAA appearance.
Today, the Hawks tallied the first four goals of the game, with four different players scoring to take a 4-0 lead 6:53 into the contest.
Westfield got on the board with an unassisted goal from Sam Donohoe to cut the lead to 4-1 with 22:09 left in the first half.
Roger Williams (7-0) rattled off the next five goals of the game in what proved to be the decisive stretch, getting two goals from Julia Kelley in that span to take a 9-1 lead, before Westfield answered with a man-up goal from Natalie DeMaio after the Hawks had a goal taken off the board for an illegal stick.
The Hawks led 12-3 at the half behind fine play from goalkeeper Hannah Goodwin, who made six saves in the opening stanza.
Westfield opened the second half with goals from Haley Mate' and Cassidy Connolly to trim the lead to 12-5.
The teams traded a pair of goals each, before RWU used a three-goal spurt to boost the lead to 18-7 and got five and half minutes of running clock before the Owls trimmed the margin under 10 with Connolly's goal with 9:34 left in regulation.
The Owls persisted, and trimmed the lead to 18-12 with 6:06 to play when Megan Bailey scored a man-up goal on a feed from Kelly Gearin, but Westfield could get no closer until tallying with 19 seconds left when Gearing fed DeMaio for her third goal of the game.
Donohoe led the Owls with four goals and an assist, DeMaio added three goals, and Bailey and Connolly tallied two each. Donohoe finishes her five-year career with 105 goals, good for ninth on the Owls' all-time list. Lily Sears and Kara Banagan split the game in goal and combined for seven saves.
Kelley finished with four goals and two assists to lead RWU, with Ryleigh Cavanaugh adding four goals. Goodwin finished with 12 saves in 51 minutes of play before giving way to Addie DiScipio who added two saves.
Westfield held a 31-29 edge in total shots, while RWU held the advantage in ground balls (16-12) draw controls (19-14) and turnovers (11-13). The Hawks capitalized on their free position shot opportunites, scoring five times in five attempts, while the Owls were 0-7 from the fan.
Roger Williams advances to the sweet 16, where they will face Tufts, a 23-7 winner over Cabrini on the other side of the bracket.
