Sports News
Contact: Scott C. Miller
Sports Information Director
802.485.2160
April 26, 2007
Women's Lacrosse: Norwich 12 Westfield State 10
Northfield, VT - The Cadets held off a late rally to defeat the Owls, 12-10, in the regular-season finale at Howard Field. Norwich (7-4) built an 11-6 lead midway through the second half before Westfield State (4-5) scored three consecutive goals to trail by two with 10 minutes remaining. But Kathleen Hennessy's goal with 1:43 to play and two late saves by Katie Fraser allowed the Cadets to hold on for the win.
WSC's Amanda Aborn opened the scoring 1:06 into the first half for a 1-0 lead. NU's offense responded with three consecutive goals in an eight-minute span to take a 3-1 lead with 20 minutes remaining. The two teams then swapped until 59 second remaining when Westfield's Ally Brown scored the final goal of the half and Norwich took a 6-5 lead into the break.
The second half started almost identically to the first half as WSC scored 1:06 in, only this time, Cat Grella scored the goal. Norwich broke the 6-6 tie with five straight goals, with Kristen Lewis and Kathleen Hennessy scoring two goals each in that surge, for the 11-6 lead. Brown then scored two of three WSC goals as the Owls cut the lead to 11-9. Hennessy added the insurance goal with under two minutes to play. Grella added one last score for the Owls with 48 seconds to play before the Cadets were able to run out the clock.
Hennessy logged a game-high five goals to lead the Cadets, while Lewis finished with four goals. Brown led the Owls with four goals, while Aborn and Grella each scored two.
Norwich outshot Westfield State, 31-25. NU goaltender Katie Fraser made 15 saves, while WSC goalie Missy MacNeil stopped 19 shots.
The Cadets now move on to the NEWLA playoffs as the number four seed. Norwich will play top-seed WNEC on Saturday at 2:00 pm.
