Women's Lacrosse Resilient Despite 15-7 Setback to Saints

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) women's lacrosse team showed a lot of pride Tuesday evening despite being shorthanded, holding the Emmanuel College (EC) Saints in check for three periods before running out of steam in the fourth period, taking a 15-7 decision on the USJ Lacrosse Field, under the lights in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) match. With the loss, the Blue Jays dip to 5-9 overall on the season and 3-7 in conference play, while EC improves to 7-5 overall including 7-3 in the league.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: Emmanuel 15, Saint Joseph 7
Records: EC 7-5 (7-3 GNAC), USJ 5-9 (3-7 GNAC)
Location: USJ Lacrosse Field | West Hartford, Conn.

Junior Makenzie Dinger (Hingham, Mass.) and sophomore midfielder Ana Nogueira (Trumbull, Conn.) scored three goals each for Saint Joseph to lead the way. Freshman attack Maya Tomko (Sparta, N.J.) added the seventh goal, just her second of her career. The evening was owned though by senior midfielder Chandra Franca (Woburn, Mass.), who scored a game-high seven goals, and in doing so, eclipsed the 100-goal mark for her career.

Emmanuel controlled the pace early on, scoring five of the game's first six goals. Three came from Franca in the opening quarter, including the first two. The Blue Jays responded though by outscoring the Saints in the second stanza, 4-2. The trio of Blue Jays each found their touch – slicing and scoring at will to tip the tide in favor of the hosts. USJ was in this one, down 7-5 at the break.

The pace was played to USJ's favor, as the defense forced two shot clock violations in total and forced Emmanuel to make a plethora of passes. The Saints are one of the best in the GNAC at skipping the rock around; they did so from right to left and everywhere in between, ultimately finding openings albeit late in a possession. The visitors scored three critical goals (from three different players), and most importantly, held USJ scoreless. It was enough to pull away in the fourth quarter as Saint Joseph could not overcome the odds in this one.

COACH QUOTE [Karen Nell]
"The injuries have sidelined us a bit as far as scoring goes, but our defense held [the Saints], and caused them to turn it over multiple times, which is awesome. The team did an outstanding job. Nina Lestrud played well. On attack we had a little bit of trouble without Jenna Banta, but everybody pitched in as a team, that strong effort kept us close most of the way."

GOALIE BREAKDOWN

EC – Senior goalkeeper Emma Crowley (Peterborough, N.H.) improved to 7-5 overall with a complete game in the cage, allowing seven goals and making four saves in total.

USJ – Senior goalkeeper and captain Nina Lestrud (Torrington, Conn.) dipped to 5-9 on the season with a nine save, 54-minute performance, allowing 13 goals. Senior stopper Silvana Barcomb (Middletown, Conn.) played the final five-plus minutes for USJ and allowed two goals with three saves.

UP NEXT
The Blue Jays will head on the road for a visit north to play the Raiders of Rivier University in Nashua, N.H. The action takes place on Saturday, April 16 at 1:00 p.m. Fans can head to www.usjbluejays.com to follow the action from start to finish.

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