WESTFIELD MA – Megan Bailey recorded five goals and Kiely Hafensteiner tallied six points as the Westfield State Owls took down the Bridgewater State Bears, 18-12 in a MASCAC conference women's lacrosse game on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field in Westfield.
The Owls improve to 7-4 overall and remain undefeated, 2-0, in conference. The Bears fall to 4-9 overall and fall back to 1-2 in conference.
A strong third quarter from the Owls led by three third quarter goals from Bailey opened the Owls' lead to eight goals.
Bridgewater got out to a quick lead in the first quarter with a goal by Erin McIntyre with 9:56 to play. After winning the draw, the Bears were back on the attack. Driving to the crease, a shot by Katy Shaw bounced past Sydney Smith putting the Bears up 2-0 with 9:09 minutes to go in the first quarter.
The Owls first goal of the game came with 3:19 minutes to go as Lindsey Bohenko (Lowell, MA) faked out her defender and put a shot low past goalkeeper Laura Giovaniello.
The Bears would grab a 3-1 lead with 1:26 to go as Cameron Gonsalves ripped a shot from outside the crease.
The Owls were quick to respond as a pass from Megan Bailey (Quincy, MA) found a cutting Mercedes Rozzi (South Burlington, VT) who netted her first goal of the game with 0.59 seconds to go in the first.
Keeping the momentum from the first quarter, off the draw Mykenzie Black (Hopedale, MA) took the ball up and fired a shot that tied the game up, 3-3.
The Bears responded by winning the draw after the goal by Black, which set up Camryn Gonsalves to score her second goal of the game, giving the Bears the lead again, 4-3.
A goal from Natalie DeMaio (Westwood, MA), assisted by Kiely Hafensteiner (Niskayuna, NY) with 11:21 to play in the second tied the score back up at 4-4. The Owls grabbed their first lead of the game at the 8:42 minute mark in the second as Hafensteiner found a cutting Bailey who notched her first goal of the game giving the Owls a 5-4 lead.
Bridgewater was not willing to go away though as a pass from Katy Shaw found the stick of Ashley Silva whose shot went low into the back of the net tying the game up at 5-5 with 5:49 to play in the second quarter.
A free-position goal from Rozzi, her second goal of the game, with 5:24 to play in the second quarter, gave the Owls a 6-5 lead. The Owls would maintain the lead for the rest of the game.
Building on their lead to close out the quarter, Hafensteiner knotted her own goal after assisting on two of the first six goals. With 3:31 to go in the second, a pass from Rozzi found Bailey who ripped a shot past Giovaniello, building the lead 8-5.
Bridgewater cut the lead to two for a moment, 8-6, as a free-position goal from Savannah Herrington with 2:40 to go in the second. But the Owls quickly responded as a goal from Kylie Buchanan (Westfield, MA) assisted by Emma Prattson (Tolland,CT) put the Owls ahead 9-6.
Opening the third quarter in the same fashion as they did the second, the Owls quickly put themselves on the board. With 14:30 to play in the third, Bohenko netted her second goal of the game giving the Owls a 10-6 lead.
With 9:53 left to play in the third quarter the Bears were in striking distance as a goal by Meredith Sylvia assisted by Erin McIntyre cut the lead to 10-7.
The Owls would then blow the lead wide open with five straight goals. Bailey knotted three of the five, while Ari Andresen (Port Jefferson Station, NY) scored her first and Rozzi scored her third. Hafensteiner picked up two assists and Black picked up an assist as well. The Owls had a 15-7 lead with three minutes to go in the third.
The Bears again responded with two quick goals from Erin McIntyre to end the quarter trailing 15-9.
The Owls opened the final stanza with a goal by DeMaio with 12:56 to go in the fourth quarter. Hafensteiner tallied her second goal of the game which gave the Owls a 17-9 lead with 8:58 to play.
Bridgewater attempted a comeback as McIntyre, assisted by Ashley Silva, scored her fourth goal of the game with just under seven minutes to play.
The attempt was cut short as Bohenko negated the Bears' goal, by picking up her third goal of the game.
The Bears were the last team on the board as Herrington scored her second goal of the game with 3:56 to play and Sylvia, assisted by Silva, scored with a minute to go. Making the final score 18-12.
For the Bears, McIntyre led with four goals. Silva had a team high of two assists. Goalkeeper Giovaniello totaled 12 saves in the loss.
For the Owls, Bailey led with five goals. Hafensteiner had a team high four assists as well as recording two goals. Goalkeeper Smith totaled eight saves in the win.
The next game for the Bears is home on Saturday, April 13 at 1:00 pm against Fitchburg State University.
The next game for the Owls is an out-of-conference matchup at home on Wednesday, April 10 at 7 pm against Springfield College.
-- written by Jordan Aguiar, sports information intern