DANBURY, Conn. – With the top seed in the upcoming Little East Conference Championship Tournament already secured, the Western Connecticut State University women's lacrosse team withstood a rally from the University of Southern Maine, coming away with a 14-11 league victory to wrap up the regular season slate on Saturday at the Westside Athletic Complex.
Senior attack Dominique DeMarsico (Danbury, Conn.) paced the hosts with game-highs of seven goals and four assists. Junior attack Alexa Riggio (Massapequa, N.Y.) added a hat trick while classmate midfielder Colleen Foley (Kingston, Mass.) chipped in with a pair.
Senior Evelyn Hinkley (West Gardiner, ME) paced the visitors with four goals, while classmate Rachel Shanks (Naples, ME) notched three. Rookie Kate Colvin (Winchester, Mass.) also contributed two goals and an assist.
WestConn opened the game with a 6-0 run which they would take into the second quarter. Shanks found the back of the net for the Huskies to get them on the board just 20 seconds into the stanza. DeMarsico would counter later in the quarter, giving the Wolves an 8-2 lead at the break.
The hosts opened up the third when she drained her team-leading 60th goal of the season. With a 9-2 lead, they seemed headed towards earning running time.
However, Huskies sophomore goalkeeper Cece Racine (Lewiston, ME) began racking up some stellar saves to keep the contest competitive. It seemed to give the visitors some much needed momentum. Hinkley would net a free position shot, slicing the deficit to 11-7 heading into the final quarter. She added her 13th goal of the campaign off another free position attempt, shrinking the gap to 12-10 with 5:44 remaining on the clock.
WestConn answered with two of the final three goals to hold onto the victory. Riggio buried her 38th from in close off a nifty feed from DeMarsico before sophomore Vicky Gracy (Bethel, Conn.) pierced the scoring column with her 48th.
Wolves junior netminder Anna Schipf (Babylon, N.Y.) recorded some phenomenal stops en route to her five save performance, improving to 11-4 overall. After a rough start, Racine settled in to notch 11 saves as she dropped to 10-6.
WestConn improved to 13-4 on the season and while remaining undefeated in conference play at 7-0. Southern Maine fell to 10-6 and 4-3. The Wolves receive a first round bye and will host an LEC Semifinal matchup on Thursday. The LEC Quarterfinals are slated to begin on Tuesday with the title game set for Saturday.
