April 10, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Carole Grills
(413) 585-2703

Lacrosse Defeats New England College

Northampton, MA: First year Phoebe Hopkins (Philadelphia, PA) tallied all of her game high three goals in the second half of action yesteday to lead the Pioneers to an 11-7 victory against New England College in Henniker, New Hampshire. With the victory, Smith improved to 2-6 overall while New England fell to 4-6.

The first half was evenly played with the teams exchanging goals that created four ties. New England scored the first goal of the game at the 25:56 mark but Smith answered 33 seconds later as midfielder Mary Pasini (Columbus, OH) evened the score on a free position shot. Casey McFarland put the Pilgrims ahead once again until 12:22 remained and first year Sarah Knowles (North Kingston, RI) tallied with an assist by Alyna Liptak (Leeds, MA). The Pioneers took a 3-2 lead as Liptak found Michelle Walsh (Northampton, MA) with 8:55 left in the half but New England evened it once again 22 seconds later on a goal by Emily Tanquay and reclaimed the lead two minutes later on a goal by Brandi Vittum.  Senior co-captain Blair Rapalyea (Prides Crossing, MA) scored unassisted with 5:23 left in the half and the teams entered the half 4-4.

The Pioneers offense dominated the first fourteen minutes of the second half as the team ripped off five consecutive goals by Meaghan Fileti (Palos Verdes Estates, CA), Rapalyea, Carolyn Whiting (South Orange, NJ) and Hopkins (2) to build a 9-4 lead. The Pilgrims scored twice to close the gap to 9-6, but Knowles and Hopkins tallied again to seal the victory for Smith. Goalkeeper Chelsea Henderson (White Plains, NY) played all 60 minutes in goal and allowed just seven goals with 17 saves.

The Pioneers return to New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) competition on Saturday when they host MIT at 11:30 a.m.