April 18, 2017

Laferriere Leads Falcons to MASCAC Win over Salem State

Fitchburg, Mass. – The Fitchburg State women's lacrosse team defeated the Vikings of Salem State University, 18-8 in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action at Elliot Field.

Salem St.

3-9, 2-2 MASCAC

Fitchburg St.

7-6, 2-2 MASCAC

Final	1	2	T
Salem St. (3-9, 2-2 MASCAC)	4	4	8
Fitchburg St. (7-6, 2-2 MASCAC)	9	9	18

Game Leaders

Salem St.

G: Carolyn Woodin - 3

A: Courtney Smith - 2

Sv: Karlie McLear - 18

GB: 2 Players (#14, #18) - 4

Fitchburg St.

G: Ali Laferriere - 7

A: Carrie Long - 2

Sv: Marguerite Belcher - 4

GB: Ali Laferriere - 4

Team Stats

Game Statistics	Salem St.	Fitchburg St.
Shots	12	38
Ground Balls	21	28
Saves	18	4
Clears	11-16	7-16
Turnovers	18	15
Draw Controls	4	22
Free Position Shots	2-4	3-6

Full stats

Fitchburg, Mass. – The Fitchburg State women's lacrosse team defeated the Vikings of Salem State University, 18-8 in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action at Elliot Field.

Senior Ali Laferriere paced the Falcons offense, notching her 200^th goal of the season, with a game-best eight points on seven goals and one helper as well as four ground balls and one caused turnover. Teammates Carrie Long and Andrea Comeau each posted two goals and an assist, while freshman Tracy Long's stat line read one goal, two assists, three ground balls and one caused turnover.

Senior Carolyn Woodin led the Vikings offense with three goals, one assist, four ground balls and three caused turnovers. Freshman Kaitlynn Palmer added a pair of goals in the loss.

Salem State opened the scoring on a pair of markers from Courtney Smith and Carolyn Woodin before the Falcons cut the lead in half with a score from senior Comeau, her 24^th of the season. The Vikings pushed the lead to 3-1 on a tally by Woodin with 17:04 to play in the first frame.

The Falcons knotted the score at 3-3 with a pair of man-up goals, and turned up the pace outscoring the Vikings 8-0 over a 13 minute span to hold a 9-3 advantage late in the first half. Laferriere tallied a hat trick in the scoring spree along with single markers from C. Long, Anna Gagnon-Burch, Kayla Panek, Comeau and Rebecca Fisher. Salem closed out the first half with a goal from Palmer to make it a 9-4 game after 30 minutes of play.

Following the intermission, Salem State scored two quick goals sandwiched around Laferriere's 34^th goal of the season to cut the deficit to 10-6. However Fitchburg State upped its advantage on goals by Long, Nicole Lee and a pair of scores from Laferriere for the 14-6 margin. Salem stopped the offensive onslaught with a goal from Chelsea Smith, but the Green and Gold continued the dominations with consecutive goals from Laferriere, Fisher, Long and Panek for the 18-8 final.

Throughout the contest, Fitchburg State held a 38-12 margin in shots, while also controlling the ground balls with a 28-21 advantage. In goal, sophomore Marguerite Belcher turned away 4 shots for the Falcons in the complete game effort, while freshman Karlie McLear was impressive for Salem State, making 18 saves of her own in 60 minutes of work.

Fitchburg State (7-6, 2-2 MASCAC) returns to action on Thursday night as it hosts the Pride of Regis College for a contest starting at 7:00 p.m. Salem State (3-9, 2-2 MASCAC) will host Emmanuel on the same day at 6:30 p.m.