WESTON, Mass. – On the strength of a five-goal output by Sam Salamone (Milford, Mass.), the Regis College women's lacrosse team captured its fourth straight New England Collegiate Conference title, beating Southern Vermont 16-8 in the NECC championship game on Saturday at Regis Stadium.
Following the win, Rachel Gagnon (Ashford, Conn.) was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player with Salamone, Emily Kosak (Milton, Mass.) and Mary Roma (Portland, Maine) joining her on the all-tournament team. Mel Orell (Goucester, Mass.), Emily Lesure (Cheshire, Mass.) and Lauren Nesshoever (Chittenden, Vt.), who shared game-high honors with Salamone with five goals, also earned spots on the all-tournament team.
The game was also a special one for senior goalie Emma Decker (Southborough, Mass.) who, in the second half, picked up her 600th career save. Decker finished with 11 saves on the afternoon with Kelsey Carrera (Queensbury, N.Y.) tallying 16 saves for the Mountaineers (7-11).
Taylor Assarian (Arlington, Mass.)and Erin Loehner (Danvers, Mass.) both posted two goals and an assist with Roma adding three goals of her own for the Pride who, with the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament, will have the next week off before finding out their first round opponent.
The Pride (12-6) came out like gangbusters and looked prime to put the game away early. Nicole Roche (Waltham, Mass.) opened the scoring with a free position shot in the second minute then Ariana Woodley (Norwood, Mass.) came off a screen to add another goal just over two minutes later. Salamone then scored back-to-back goals and Regis led 4-0 less than eight minutes into the game.
The Mountaineers would put a halt to the scoring spree and pump in three goals of their own to get right back in the game. Nesshoever scored off a pass from the left side to get Southern Vermont on the board, then Orrell added two more, the first off a release where she drove down the middle of the field and shot high past Decker.
Southern Vermont kept the game close until the midway point of the first half as Nesshoever scored again to make it a 5-4 score. The Pride would hunker down though and add four more goals to take an 8-4 lead into the break.
Regis would score the first four goals of the second half to open up an eight-goal lead and never looked back. The Mountaineers scored three straight goals in a 31-second span to cut the lead to five but it wouldn't be enough as the final seconds ticked off and Regis celebrated another league title.
All-Tournament Team
Meghan Lewis – Wheelock
Emma Marrs – Wheelock
Nikolle Storey – Becker
Kaylee Ruyack – Becker
Mel Orell – Southern Vermont
Lauren Nesshoever – Southern Vermont
Emily Lesure – Southern Vermont
Kelsey Carrerra – Southern Vermont
Emily Kosak – Regis
Sam Salamone – Regis
Mary Roma – Regis
MVP – Rachel Gagnon, Regis