NORTHFIELD, Vt. - Sophomore midfielder Elena Bragg (Belmont, Mass.) tallied eight points, including five second-half goals and set the school's single-season mark for draws to lead the Simmons College women's lacrosse team to a 19-15 victory over host Norwich University this evening in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest at Sabine Field in Northfield, Vt. The Sharks improve to 6-10 overall and 3-5 in league play, while the Cadets fall to 6-8 and 2-6.
Simmons dominated possession for most of the match, winning 27 of 35 draw controls, while owning a 45-23 shot advantage.
Bragg finished the match with 84 draw controls for the season to eclipse the former school record of 82 set by Ashley Sheehan last year. In addition, Bragg's goal total is a career-high, while her points tie a lifetime best with the Sharks. She also added 11 draw controls to finish one short of her own school record, while picking up two ground balls. First year attacker Kate Bowers (Belchertown, Mass.) established new career bests with five points and three goals in addition to a ground ball, a draw control and a caused turnover. Sophomore defender Mallory Cottam (Hope, R.I.) netted three goals, won three draws and came up with three ground balls, while sophomore midfielder Ana Giarrusso (Hingham, Mass.) registered four points on three goals and as assist to go with six draw controls, two ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers. Junior attacker Kasey Fries (Bridgewater, Mass.) was Simmons' fifth player with multiple goals, scoring twice and adding an assist to join Bragg with exactly 50 points on the season for Simmons. Junior goalie Chyenne Yeager (Indiana, Pa.) earned the victory with three saves.
Norwich sophomore Kathryn Albretsen (Cotuit, Mass.) tied a single-game personal record with seven points, scoring six goals and one assist. Senior Chapel Guarnieri (Pepperell, Mass.) and first year Olivia Bloom (Annapolis, Md.) registered three points of offense apiece. First year goalie Lawson Hayes (Moorestown, N.J.) kept the home team in the match with 16 saves.
The Cadets took an early 3-1 lead in the opening 5:38 of play, fueled by a pair of goals from Albretsen. Simmons first year attacker Kingsley Richards (Lexington, Mass.) and Bloom traded goals to keep it a two-goal advantage for the home team. The Sharks took their first lead of the night with three unanswered goals, including two from Bowers to take a 5-4 edge with 16:20 showing in the first half. The lead was short-lived, however, as Albretsen found the back of the net twice to reclaim the lead for Norwich at 6-5. Simmons scored four of hte next five goals, receiving scores from four different players to take a 9-7 lead with 5:07 to go in the half. Neither team scored over nearly five minutes, before Bloom and Albretsen scored back-to-back goals in a span of 12 seconds for the Cadets to knot the game at 9-9 with seven ticks left in the period.
Guarnieri tallied the first goal of the second stanza to give Norwich a 10-9 edge, but it was the last lead the home team enjoyed as the Sharks ripped off three straight goals, including two from Bragg, for a 12-10 margin. The Cadets followed with consecutive goals as junior Meaghan McGrath (Barre, Vt.) scored prior to an Albretsen unassisted goal, knotting the game at 12 with 23:29 left in the second half. Simmons scored the next four goals as part of a 7-1 run, led by three goals from Bragg as the visitors took a 19-13 cushion with seven minutes remaining in the contest. Guarnieri and junior Teresa Segreti (Salisbury Mills, N.Y.) scored in the final five minutes for Norwich, but the Cadets ended up on the short end of a 19-15 score.
The Sharks return to action on Saturday, April 29 when they host cross-street GNAC rival Emmanuel College at 11:00 a.m. in the regular-season finale at Daly Field, while Norwich concludes its regular season with a 1:00 p.m. tilt in Nashua, N.H. at Rivier University on the same day.