WESTON, Mass. – The Regis College women's lacrosse team suffered a 14-3 loss to non-conference opponent Fitchburg State University in the Pride's home opener Tuesday evening at Regis Stadium. With the win, the Falcons improve to 5-2 on the season and the loss, the Crimson and Gold's third in a row, drops them below .500 at 2-3.
The Pride headed into the intermission down 5-3, but the Falcons started off the second stanza with heavy defensive pressure, as their unit held the hosts to only three shots in the final half. Fitchburg State added nine unanswered goals to go up big and eventually take the contest.
After five minutes of back and forth play, the guests opened the scoring when senior attack Brianna Dunn (Monson, Mass.) found her teammate Bailey Miller (Leominster, Mass.) streaking to the front of the cage. Dunn found Miller with a slick pass and the sophomore bounced a shot past Pride goalkeeper Emma Decker (Southborough, Mass.) for the opening score.
About a minute later, Regis senior attack Sam Salamone (Milford, Mass.) received the ball up top, dangled through the Falcon defense and bounced a shot home to knot up the score. Four minutes passed before Fitchburg State regained the lead on a Jaimee Lutz (Foxboro, Mass.) tally.
Salamone responded with the next two goals which gave the Pride the lead temporarily. Nicole Roche (Waltham, Mass.) saw Salamone just outside the crease, made a move and dished off a pass to her teammate who buried a high shot that tickled the twine. Two minutes after the Roche/Salamone connection, Salamone converted a free position shot which gave the hosts their only lead of the contest 3-2 with 17:40 left before the break.
FSU tied the contest when Andrea Comeau (Watertown, Mass.) scooped up a loose ball off a rebound and put the attempt home to tie the contest at 3-3. Junior attack Kayla Panek (Belchertown, Mass.) scored what would be the game winner off a pass from Ali Laferriere (Tyngsboro, Mass.) who dished the rock off a free position attempt. Laferriere scored three minutes later off a free position attempt which made the score 5-3 heading into the intermission.
Comeau racked up four of her five goals during the second half of play while Corinne DeSimone (Dennis, Mass.) tallied two of her own.
Salamone's hat-trick was her second of the season and it was also her second multi score game. Emma Decker made nine saves in the loss while Liz Darrigo (Billerica, Mass.) stopped 10 shots and moved to 5-2 on the year.
Regis returns to action tomorrow when they travel to Daniel Webster for a 4:00 p.m. contest.