BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Cameron Gonsalves proved to be too much for the Keene State College women's lacrosse team as she recorded eight points for Bridgewater State University with six goals in the second half to help lead the Bears to a 16-10 win over the Owls in both teams' regular season finale.

Records

• Keene State: 11-6 (5-3 LEC)
• Bridgewater State: 13-4 (4-2 MASCAC)

How it Happened


Tess Brown opened the scoring in the contest for the Owls with her first of four goals on the day with a free position goal 2:25 into the contest. BSU responded with a pair of goals over a 29 second span shortly after as the Bears took the lead for the first time with 6:29 remaining in the opening quarter. KSC was able to tie the contest back up again as Lola Smith assisted Lola Varricchione for the Owls' man-up goal with 4:19 left in the first. After the Owls' goalkeeper Mabelle Bessette saved three more shots to bring her total in the opening quarter to five, the Bears were able to beat the buzzer and score a goal with one second left to take a 3-2 lead into the second quarter.
 
BSU continued to apply the pressure on the attack in the second quarter as they outscored KSC 3-1 over the 15 minutes to round out the first half. Sandwiched between the Bears' goalkeeper, Sara Skaff, making two saves in net was a pair of goals from BSU less than a minute apart early in the second quarter. Chase Gengras got revenge on Skaff saving her free position shot in the first quarter with a free position shot for KSC with 8:30 remaining in the first half to pull KSC within a pair. BSU tacked on one more goal in the half as Taylor Carter scored her second of the game and each goalie continued to make saves with Bessette tallying three in the quarter and Skaff recording five as BSU doubled up the Owls 6-3 heading into halftime.
 
Camryn Gonsalves scored her first of six goals in the second half for the Bears on a free position goal to put BSU up by four 20 seconds into the second half, but KSC responded right back with three goals to pull within one over the next 3:31. Brown scored the first of the two for KSC, with the first coming from Lola Smith and the second being a free position shot, while the third was a man-up goal from Anna Maccarini assisted by Amethyst Phelps with 11:09 remaining in the third. After BSU scored on the opening shot of the quarter, Bessette saved the next three shots on frame from the Bears, including a free position shot saved, but BSU eventually got back into their groove and scored their next three shots over a 3:03 span to jump back ahead by four. Brown won the ensuing draw control for KSC, which led to Varricchione assisting Phelps for a goal with 5:20 remaining in the quarter to halt the Bears' momentum for the moment, but it did not last too long. BSU tacked on two more goals the remainder of the quarter, including yet another goal with one second remaining in the quarter as Gonsalves scored her third of the quarter for a 12-7 lead heading into the final 15 minutes of action.
 
KSC outscored BSU 2-1 over the opening 4:11 of the contest as the Owls looked to start to make a comeback with Phelps scoring the first of the pair after Brooke Diwinsky caused a turnover on the defensive end for the Owls. The Owls defensive play also led to the second of the two goals as after Varricchione caused a turnover for KSC, Brown assisted Maccarini for the second goal of the pair to pull KSC back within four. Unfortunately for the Owls, BSU responded with a pair of goals shortly after to go back up by six with 7:06 remaining as Gonsalves scored her fifth goal of the day for the Bears. Brianna Hodgeman caused a turnover on BSU later in the fourth quarter which led to Brown scoring a free position shot with 4:24 remaining, but Gonsalves' man-up goal with 3:11 for her sixth goal of the day sealed the 16-10 win for the Bears over the Owls.
 
"The game was an amazing preparatory matchup for playoffs. Bridgewater is a solid team that has performed well against some of our conference partners" said Owls' Head Coach Travis Wyant.
 
"The game itself was tough. It's never easy to play a team on their senior day, especially if the squad has like 8 of them! The game definitely had a unique atmosphere to it. We had a good third quarter that put us in a position to close the game which I was proud of, but ultimately it wasn't in the cards for us."
 
"We'll be locked and loaded for Tuesday!" Wyant said as the Owls will host Eastern Connecticut State University on Tuesday night for the LEC Quarterfinals.
 
Inside the Crease

• With the loss, KSC falls to 1-7 in the all-time series between the two teams with BSU taking the four most recent matchups.
• Brown led the attack with five points coming from four goals and an assist while going 3-for-5 on free position shots, while Phelps was close behind with three points from a pair of goals and an assist.
• Brown also led the game in draw control wins as she recorded nine for her season high as she won 9 of the 12 (75%) draw controls by the Owls on the day.
• Varricchione led KSC on defense with four caused turnovers, while Brown was close behind with three. The pair also tied for the team-high of four ground balls apiece.
• Gonsalves led the contest on the attack for BSU as she scored six goals, all in the second half (a pair from free position shots), and a pair of assists in the first half for a total of eight points.
• Bessette made 14 saves in goal for the Owls for a .483 SV% over 52:54 of play, while Katelyn Nicotera entered for the remaining 7:06 of the contest and made one save and allowed one goal for KSC. Skaff made 11 saves in net for BSU for a .524 SV% on the day.

 
Up Next


Keene State returns home for their next contest after the Owls secured the No. 4 seed in the Little East Conference Tournament, KSC will host No. 5 Eastern Connecticut State University on Tuesday, April 29, at 6:30 PM.
Bridgewater State next plays at home for the MASCAC Tournament Semifinal matchup against Salem State University on Tuesday, April 29, at 4:00 PM.