WESTON, Mass. – Regis College, the second seed in the 2019 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Women's Lacrosse Tournament, defeated seventh seed Emmanuel College, 13-5, Saturday afternoon in a tournament quarterfinal match at Regis Stadium.
With the victory, Regis improves to 14-2 and advances to the tournament semifinals, where it will host third seed Lasell College, a 13-7 victor over Saint Joseph's College Saturday, Wednesday, May 1, at a time to be announced. Emmanuel sees its season end with a 7-9 overall record.
Regis scored first just 1:28 into the match as Emily Kosak (Milton, Mass.) earned her 21st goal of the season. Even though it was down one player, Emmanuel was able to tie the contest just over six minutes into the match on an unassisted goal by Chandra Franca (Woburn, Mass.).
The Pride took control with 10 straight goals spanning 27:54 of game action, starting with an unassisted goal by Rachel Nadeau (Coventry, Conn.). Jordyn Ringuette (Colchester, Conn.) scored three goals in the first half, Kosak and Alyssa Kelly (Lee, Mass.) earned two goals apiece during that stretch, and Nadeau added another goal late in the first half.
After Brooke Ross (Hanover, Mass.) scored five minutes into the second half to complete the 10-0 run, Kylie Rice broke the Pride scoring streak with a goal on a free position attempt. Meghan Sargent (Brattleboro, Vt.) earned her second goal of the season off an assist by Kelly midway through the second half.
Emmanuel rattled off three unanswered goals, starting with Franca's second goal of the match and continuing with free position tallies by Elizabeth Fortier (Newburyport, Mass.) and Aisling Butler (Westfield, Mass.). With less than three minutes left in the second half, Kerri Anselmo (Natick, Mass.) drew a free position opportunity and converted it for the final goal of the afternoon.
Eight different Regis players earned at least one point in the match, led by Ringuette and Kosak with three goals and Kelly with two goals and one assist. The Pride controlled the majority of ground balls, 37-22, led by seven ground balls from Sargent. Kosak led Regis with six draw controls to go along with five ground balls.
Franca was the only Emmanuel player with more than one point in the match thanks to her two goals. Katelyn Hunter (South Windsor, Conn.) led the Saints with four ground balls, while Emily Saef (Moultonborough, N.H.) picked up five draw controls as Emmanuel won eight of the nine draw controls in the second half to tie for the match, 10-10.
Defensively, Regis caused 22 of Emmanuel's 36 turnovers, led by Nadeau, Ross, Sargent, and Maddy Rodriguez (Amherst, Mass.) with three caused turnovers apiece. Pride goalie Brittany McPherson (Lynn, Mass.) finished with six saves, five of them in the second half, as she tied the Regis single season record for most wins by a goalie with 14.
Emmanuel keeper Bethany Bonilla-Colon (Milton, Mass.) led the Saints with five caused turnovers as they forced 21 of Regis' 32 turnovers. Bonilla-Colon made eight saves in the first half on her way to an 11-save performance.
The semifinal match between Regis and Lasell will be a rematch of the regular season contest that took place March 27, as the Pride held off a late comeback to defeat the Lasers, 11-10. Kelly led the Pride with four goals, while Anselmo finished with one goal and four assists.