Lacrosse Flys Past Bay Path Thursday at Home, 14-6

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - Sophomore Charlotte Eberhardt (Thomaston, Conn.) and senior Hannah Lemek (Bristol, Conn.) each scored five goals and the University of Saint Joseph blanked the Bay Path University Wildcats in the second half to secure a 14-6 victory in non-conference women's lacrosse action on the USJ Lacrosse Field on Thursday afternoon. With the victory, the Blue Jays improve to 2-6 overall on the season while the Wildcats fall to 0-5. USJ will be back in action next with a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) tilt on the road Saturday at Rivier beginning at 4:00 p.m.

THE BASICS

Score: University of Saint Joseph - 14, Bay Path University - 6
Records: USJ (2-6), BPU (0-5)
Location: West Hartford, Conn. - USJ Lacrosse Field
Date: Thursday, April 12, 2018

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Blue Jays wasted little time getting on the scoreboard and after Lemek won the opening draw control she drove down the field and beat the Bay Path keeper to stake USJ to an early 1-0 lead just 12 seconds into the game. Lemek would strike again 30 seconds later off a feed from Eberhardt to give her two goals within the opening minute of play to make it 2-0 as the Blue Jays would never trail in the victory.

Bay Path cut its deficit in half with its first goal of the game coming on a free position attempt from senior Kaylee Herring (Worcester, Vt.) three and a half minutes into the game to make it 2-1 in favor of USJ. The Blue Jays would answer though as Lemek found the back of the net once again for her third straight goal to start the game. Junior Annmarie Masayda (Watertown, Conn.) followed with her first goal of the game to build a 4-1 lead for the Blue Jays with 16:21 left on the first-half clock.

After another Herring goal made it 4-2, Eberhardt got things going and notched back-to-back markers to give USJ a 6-2 advantage. The Wildcats stuck around though and answered with two goals of their own to climb within 6-4, including the third goal of the game from Herring to give her a first-half hat-trick.

Lemek halted the Bay Path run with her fourth goal of the half with 6:04 left before the intermission to push the USJ lead to 7-4 and then both teams would trade goals over the remainder of the period to make it 9-6 heading into the locker rooms.

The second half was all Blue Jays as they kept the Wildcats at bay and off the scoreboard for the entire 30 minutes of play. Both defenses tightened up to start the second stanza as neither team was able to find the back of the net in the first 14 minutes of action.

Eberhardt finally broke through for the Blue Jays with 15:06 left in regulation to give her a hat-trick on the afternoon and increased the lead to 10-6. That would spark a scoring run by Eberhardt as she followed with two more goals to build a 12-6 lead. Freshman Raelynn Voislow (Windsor Locks, Conn.) would score her first career goal as a Blue Jay with 7:39 left on the clock to make it 13-6 before Masayda capped the scoring with her second goal of the game to account for the 14-6 final margin.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Eberhardt and Lemek each scored five goals and also added two assists each to lead the way for the Blue Jays in the victory. Eberhardt also posted a team-high seven ground balls while Lemek recorded a game-high eight draw controls.
• Herring finished with three goals to lead the Wildcats' offense and also picked up a game-high eight ground balls.
• The Blue Jays outshot the Wildcats 38-16 in the contest, including 30-12 in shots on goal.
• Senior Emily Bourassa (Bristol, Conn.) picked up the win in net for USJ to improve her record to 2-6 on the season. She made six saves in the victory and also collected three ground balls.
• Sophomore Kristina Tran (Agawam, Mass.) made 16 stops for the visitors between the pipes but was dealt the loss to fall to 0-5 for the season.

UP NEXT

The USJ women's lacrosse team will be back in action next on Saturday on the road in a GNAC match against the Rivier University Raiders. Opening draw is slated for 4:00 p.m. on Raider Field. Bay Path returns to the field next at home on Saturday in a NECC contest against Newbury at 11:00 a.m.