Box Score

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (April 16, 2009) -- In its most dominating performance of the season, the Vassar College women's lacrosse team coasted to a 17-8 win over Western Connecticut State and extended its winning streak to four games Thursday afternoon at Weinberg Field. The Brewers put forth a blistering offensive attack, jumping out to a 12-3 halftime lead and getting goals from 12 different players in the victory.

Vassar improves to 7-6, 2-4 on the season, and will host Liberty League opponent Rensselaer on Senior Day this Saturday, April 18 at 2:00 p.m. A win over RPI would tie Vassar with the Red Hawks, which now now holds the fourth and final spot in the Liberty League playoff race. Western Connecticut dropped its third straight game after having previously won four of five, and drops to 6-7, 1-3. The Colonials next play at Plymouth State on Saturday.

Vassar scored the first two goals of the game, both of which came off of Western Connecticut turnovers. The Colonials came right back, scoring two straight to tie the game. From that point, however, Vassar poured on the offense, scoring ten unanswered goals. Vassar opened up a 12-2 lead with 2:10 left in the half when junior defender Lindsay Naple scored her first goal of the season on an assist from junior attack Larisa Lasko, also her first of the season.

Vassar gave its reserves quality minutes in the second half, and Western Connecticut took advantage of the more conservative Brewers attack to match Vassar's scoring 5-5 in the second half. The Colonials cut the Brewer lead to six, 13-7, with more than 20 minutes left to play, but Vassar came right back with two straight goals of its own and its lead was never in question.

Vassar was led by sophomore midfielder Allie Morgan, who tallied a hat trick and also picked up a team-high six ground balls. Junior defender Liz Pacheco and freshman attack Maura McCarthy also each had multiple goals, scoring two each. Vassar controlled all facets of the game, out-shooting Western Connecticut 42-34, winning the battle of ground balls 38-23, and successfully clearing 73 percent of its attempts (11 of 15) compared to 56 percent for the Colonials (14 of 25).

Ashley Caruso was a bright spot for Western Connecticut, scoring four goals on the day, including a second-half hat trick. Caruso now has 34 goals on the season. Freshman goalkeepers Mercedes Koehler, who started the game and picked up the loss, and Jodi Rocco combined for 12 saves on the day.

Vassar's starting goalkeeper Nicole Engelhardt played just 25 minutes and had seven saves, while freshman Heather Kesselman came in late in the first half and held steady for the rest of the game, picking up nine saves on the day.