Sophomore Stephanie Lenhardt scored a game-high five points (3 goals, 2 assists) in Westfield’s big victory at Western New England.
SPRINGFIELD – Westfield State University rallied from an early 4-0 deficit to defeat Western New England University, 18-12, in a non-conference women’s lacrosse game on Thursday afternoon, April 4, at Golden Bear Stadium.
The visiting Owls up their record to 5-2, while Western New England drops to 7-4 with the loss.
The Golden Bears came out of the gates fast, building an early lead on two goals apiece by midfielder Jessica Scannapiece and attacker Kaitlyn Stevens. Westfield would fight back, however, scoring seven of the next nine goals to take a 7-6 lead. Western New England tied the score at 7 on Brooke Kumnick’s second goal of the game with just two seconds left in the half.
The game remained close for the first five minutes of the second half with the teams trading goals as WNE led 10-9 on freshman Taylor Scialdone’s 23rd goal of the season.
But Westfield State was able to put more offensive pressure on the Golden Bears’ defense and gradually put the game out of reach. From the 24:35 mark to the 2:37 point, the Owls outscored Western New England 8 to 1 to go up comfortably at 17-11.
Westfield’s balanced and potent offense was led by freshman reserve Sam Lungarini, who came off the bench to score four goals, sophomore Stephanie Lenhardt (3 goals, 2 assists), sophomore Bridget Everett (3 goals, 6 draw controls) and senior Sadie Graham (3 goals, 1 assist, 3 ground balls). Jen Carew paced the defense with seven ground balls and two caused turnovers in the physical game. Freshman midfielder Megan Griffin stuffed the stat sheet with one goal, two assists, five draw controls, three ground balls and two caused turnovers.
The Golden Bears got strong play from Scannapieco, who led the team in goals (5), shots (9), ground balls (5), caused turnovers (5) and draw controls (7). Kumnick, a freshman, added four points (2 goals, 2 assists) for a career high, and attackers Bethany Peters and Scialdone contributed a goal each.
Western New England is off until next Wednesday when it hosts Roger Williams in Commonwealth Coast Conference play at 4 p.m. The Owls, winners of three straight, return home to face Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Fitchburg State Saturday at 5 p.m.
