DANBURY, Conn. - Junior Alexa Riggio scored six goals to lead the Western Connecticut State University women's lacrosse team to a convincing 17-4 victory over Plymouth State University in the 2022 Little East Conference Tournament championship at Westside Athletic Complex on a unseasonably cold Saturday afternoon.  Junior goalie Anna Schipf made six saves for the Wolves and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

The Wolves, now 15-4, captured their second-straight LEC crown and will be making the programs second appearance in the NCAA Division III National Championships, which begin next weekend.  They will find out their opponent and the site of the first and second rounds when the entire tournament field is revealed on the NCAA selection show's stream that begins at 10:30 am on Monday.

WestConn raced out of the gates, scoring the game's first 12 goals and never looked back.  Before the Panthers tallied their first goal, Dominique DeMarsico, who was held scoreless in Thursday's 10-6 victory over University of Southern Maine, had already scored four goals while Riggio, Vicky Gracy registered a hat-trick and dished out three assists for the winners.  Gracy later scored her fourth of the game and 55th of the season with the outcome well secured.  DeMarsico heads to the NCAA tournament with a team-high 66 goals while Riggio has now tickled the twine 45 times.

Colleen Foley and Colleen Crotty, the heroines in Thursday's semifinal comeback victory over the Huskies, rounded out the Wolves scoring with two and one goal, respectively.

Plymouth State, which has won an unprecedented eight LEC championships since 2002, received a pair of goals from Emily Santom and Maddie Hunt.  Santom closed out the campaign with a team-leading 57 markers in her junior season.

Sophomore Piper Sherbert made six saves for the Panthers on Saturday.  She was pelted with 28 shots from WestConn as the hosts doubled PSU's attempts on goal.

Junior defender Meghan Lorenzen was outstanding in the defensive third for the Wolves as she collected a game-highs of nine draw controls, three caused turnovers while scooping up four ground balls.

A year ago, WestConn advanced to the third round of the NCAA Championships with a second-round 20-5 victory over Johnson and Wales University (RI), which were held at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.  The Covid-19-abreviated season came to a close following its 18-4 loss to The College of New Jersey.