DANBURY, Conn. – Fourth-quarter goals by Isabella Pota and Grace King broke a 9-9 tie and secured the Little East Conference Women's Lacrosse Championship title for the No. 1 seed Western Connecticut State Wolves over the No. 2 seed University of Southern Maine Huskies on Saturday afternoon in Danbury, Conn. Victoria Gracy led all players in goals with four. Senior
Cierra Hill (Pembroke, N.H./Pembroke Academy) led the Huskies with four points on two goals and two assists.
Southern Maine also had two goals each from graduate student
Katelyn D'Appolonia (Yarmouth, Maine), freshman
Mariam DeLisle (Whitefield, Maine/Lincoln Academy) and junior
Eliza Pattershall (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook). D'Appolonia also recorded an assist. Pattershall led the Huskies in ground balls with three to become the 24th player in program history to reach the century mark in the stat. She is the third Husky this season to reach the milestone as
Cierra Hill and
Britney Hill (Pembroke, N.H./Pembroke Academy) each did so in a win against Keene State on April 4.
D'Appolonia, who set a new program record for assists in a season on the last day of the regular season, matched the program single-season record for points with 94 to equal Aliza Jordan's mark of 2019.
Pota and Kyla Murnane each recorded three points for the Wolves. Pota had two assists to go along with her goal, while Murnane scored a pair of up-goals and had an assist.
The goaltenders played well for both teams with WestConn's Norah Zuidema making eight saves to earn the win, and junior
Maggie Jones (St. John's, Newfoundland/Mount Academy) recording 10 saves in the loss.
The Records:
No. 2 Southern Maine: 14-5
No. 1 WestConn: 15-3
Series History:
The Huskies and Wolves have now played 32 times with WestConn leading the series 19-13.
The Goaltenders:
Southern Maine:
Maggie Jones (9-2), 60:00, 11 goals allowed, 10 saves
WestConn: Norah Zuidema (15-3), 60:00, nine goals allowed, eight saves
How It Happened:
- The Huskies scored first with a strike by D'Appolonia 31 seconds into the contest for an early lead. The Wolves answered with back-to-back goals by Gracey, the first of which came on the up, to go ahead 2-1 before DeLisle tied the game at 2-2 with 6:28 left in the first quarter.
- The teams combined for nine goals in the second, but it was the Huskies that pulled ahead 7-6 at halftime thanks to a goal by Pattershall from Hill with 1:31 left in the half. Hill opened the scoring in the quarter to put the Huskies up 3-2 before the Wolves went on a 3-0 run that featured an up-goal by Murnane and goals by Charlize Wolf and Gracy. Southern Maine responded with a goal by Pattershall and Hill to even the score at 5-5 before Madison Ratchford put the hosts ahead 6-5. D'Appolonia then tied the game at 6-6 just 55 seconds after Ratchford's score.
- WestConn came out strong in the new half with two goals in the first 2:30 of the quarter. Gracy scored the first goal just over a minute into the half and the second was scored by Mia Negus on a free position shot. Murnane added her second up-goal of the game with 7:16 left before the Huskies ended the run 16 seconds later with a goal by DeLisle from D'Appolonia following a draw control by C. Hill. Byers then tied the game at 9-9 with 5:07 left in the quarter with Hill recording the assist.
- Pota was able to pick up a loose ball in front of the Huskies' net and fire it into the goal to break the tie with 12:38 left in the game. WestConn then added another goal with a goal by Grace King with 10:45 to go. Zuidema and the WestConn defense were then able to keep the Huskies off the scoreboard over the final 10 plus minutes to secure the conference title.
Inside The Stats:
- The Wolves led 21-17 in shots on goal and 32-24 in total shots.
- Southern Maine had a 12-10 edge in draw controls led by eight by D'Appolonia.
- Each team went 2-for-3 on free position shots.
- WestConn caused 15 turnovers with Anneliese Reggio leading all players with four. Sophomore Calista Kinney (Topsham, Maine/Mt. Ararat) led the Huskies with two.
- D'Appolonia's 104 draw controls rank as the second-best in a season in program history. Her 59 goals this season ranks sixth.
- Pattershall's 47 caused turnovers are the second-most in a season in program history.
- C. Hill ends the season with 30 assists, the fourth highest total in a season in program history.
Up Next:
The Huskies finish the season with a record of 14-5. The team's 14 wins are a program record.
-rwd-
