WESTON, Mass. – 12 different players registered at least one point as top-seeded Regis College defeated No. 4 Elms College, 20-8, in a New England Collegiate Conference Women's Lacrosse Semifinal matchup on a cold and rain-soaked Wednesday night in Weston, Mass.
The Pride (13-3) advance to their second-straight NECC Championship game and will host the Finals on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. Regis will take on No. 3 Becker College, who defeated No. 2 seed Wheelock College, 13-7, in the other Semifinal on Wednesday night. The Pride and Hawks met in last year's NECC Championship game, a 9-8 win in overtime for Regis.
Teresa Busiek (Arlington, Mass.) and Grace Politis (Billerica, Mass.) scored the first two goals of the game to stake the Pride to an early 2-0 lead in the opening minutes. Elms got on the board when Kayla Narey (South Hadley, Mass.) converted a free position shot that cut the deficit in half at 2-1, but the Pride answered with 14-straight goals to end the half and entered the break with a 16-1 lead.
Busiek scored four goals and added an assist in the first period, while Grace Politis and Sam Salamone (Milford, Mass.) had three goals apiece, with Politis adding a pair of assists. Stacy Burns (Waltham, Mass.) netted a pair and had three assists for five points. Lindsey Graver (Bellingham, Mass.), Rachel Wong (Wakefield, Mass.), Katie Haidemenos (Warwick, R.I.) and Abbie Wehr (Suwanee, Ga.) also added goals.
Narey struck first in the second period for the Blazers, but back-to-back goals by Sashae Walls (Everett, Mass.) and Arianna Woodley (Norwood, Mass.) kept it an 18-2 game. Elms rattled off three-straight goals, a pair from Jillian Pirog (Ludlow, Mass.) and a Kathleen Tuechler (Farmingdale, N.Y.) tally, to make it 18-5. Following Haidemenos' second goal of the game, Narey struck again for the Blazers and Pirog completed her hat trick with a free position goal to make it 19-7. Sierra Luce (Hartford, Vt.) rounded out the scoring for the Pride, and Tuechler added another free position goal in the final minute to give the final score of 20-8.
The Pride outshot Elms 35-25 and held a 30-24 advantage in groundballs. Elms grabbed 19 draw controls in the game, led by eight apiece from Narey and Tuechler, while the Pride scooped up 11.
Emma Decker (Southborough, Mass.) made nine saves in the game to earn her 13th win of the season. Sarah Carpenter (Vernon, Conn.) made five saves and allowed 16 goals in defeat. Sabrina Pereira (Windsor, Conn.) played the second half, allowing only four goals while making four saves.