Lee Meskevich receives a pass during early first-half action. (Photo by Mickey Curtis)
WESTFIELD – Senior midfielder Emily Brooks had game highs of six goals, six ground balls and three caused turnovers to lead Western Connecticut State University to a 19-17 victory over Westfield State University in a women’s lacrosse non-conference shootout on Thursday evening.
The Colonials improved to 6-7 with the hard-fought victory. Westfield is 8-4.
Brooks scored two of her goals during a decisive 5-0 scoring run over a four-plus minute span of the second half that vaulted Western Connecticut to its biggest lead of the game, 17-13, with 16:53 remaining.
Prior to the key Colonial scoring spurt, the teams kept exchanging goals with neither holding a lead of more than a point throughout the game’s first 40 minutes.
Sadie Graham and Maura Stack scored to cut the Westfield deficit to 17-15, then Brooks scored her final goal with 7:58 remaining.
Westfield’s Sam Lungarini charges to the net during first-half action. (Photo by Mickey Curtis)
The Owls made one final push, scoring on goals from Sam Lungarini and Amanda Bouchard to cut the deficit to one, 18-17, with 5:01 remaining. Western Connecticut’s Kelsey Heaton scored the final goal with 4:19 remaining.
Heaton and Kiley Perrone, who also tallied two goals during the 5-0 run, each finished with four goals. Brooks also had a team-high six draws.
Westfield’s Bridget Everett looks for an open teammate. Photo by Mickey Curtis
Bouchard led Westfield with six goals and Stack scored a game-high seven points (4 goals 3 assists). Lungarini added three goals. Megan Griffin recorded a game-high 13 draw controls and Bridget Everett had five ground balls.
The team totals were fairly equal, but in a key statistic the Colonials converted five of eight free position attempts to the Owls’ 2 of 6.
