Women's Lacrosse 4/29/2015 5:36:00 PM

Women’s Lacrosse pulls away late to move on to CCC Championship

Box Score BRISTOL, R.I. - The Roger Williams University Women's Lacrosse team earned its second straight berth to the Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship Game after defeating Endicott 15-6 Wednesday afternoon.

Roger Williams, entering the game as the #2 seed, improves to 12-4 on the season and will face top-seeded Western New England University Saturday in the title game. The Golden Bears defeated #5 Gordon College 16-9 earlier in the other semifinal matchup. Endicott falls to 11-5 and will await a potential berth to the ECAC Tournament.

Despite the margin in the score, the game was fairly close throughout most of the contest. The Hawks led wire-to-wire but never were ahead by more than three goals until the final ten minutes of the game, when RWU closed out with a 6-0 run.

The contest was scoreless over the first ten minutes of the game, with solid defense for both teams. The Hawks' first score of the game came via a heads-up defensive play by Kaelin Hogan (Bethel, Conn.), causing a turnover to lead to the first score for RWU. Deven Machette (Norwalk, Conn.) would make a move on a Gull defender to bring the Hawks up 1-0. Mackenzie Logan (Sussex, N.J.) followed two minutes later, taking a pass from Kelsey Rahilly (East Longmeadow, Mass.) and faking a spin for a shot to the middle for a 2-0 lead.

Kirsten Thor (Longmeadow, Mass.) got the Gulls on the board with 15 minutes left, connecting on her 18^th goal of the year off of a pass from Emily Whitney (Rye, N.H.). Both teams would trade goals over the remainder of the half, with Whitney hooking up Ellie Clayman (Beverly, Mass.) for the final score with three minutes remaining in the first half to make it a 4-3 game in favor of RWU.

In the second half, a caused turnover by Samantha Davenport (Bethel, Conn.) led to a McKenna Everding (Fayetteville, N.Y.) goal two minutes into the period. However, Endicott would return the favor at a cost to Roger Williams.

At the 26-minute mark, a foul in the arc would earn Machette her second yellow card of the game, ending her day. This would lead to a free position attempt for Meghan Lennon (Canton, Mass.), which she converted to keep the deficit at one.

Lennon nearly knotted the game up with 19 minutes left, causing a turnover in EC territory and having a one-on-one opportunity with Hawk keeper Kimberly Bolk (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.). However, Bolk made a great kick save to her right to preserver the Hawk lead and push the momentum in RWU's favor.

The Hawks would answer with back-to-back goals by Everding and Rahilly to go up by three, yet Lennon came right back with a free position goal to keep the Gulls in striking distance.

Everding and Leah Osborne (New Fairfield, Conn.) built the lead to 9-5 for Roger Williams with 11 minutes with a pair of goals, but Clayman kept the game close with an unassisted goal with nine minutes left. However, that would be the final score for EC, as the Hawks scored six times in the final four minutes of the game to cruise to the win.

Bolk had six saves in the game for RWU in the win. Rahilly led RWU with eight points on seven assists and one goal. Everding notched five goals for RWU, while Hogan scored three goals and added an assist.

Maura Grady (Marblehead, Mass.) had 12 saves for Endicott in the loss. Whitney handed out three assists, while Lennon and Clayman each scored twice.

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