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Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference

Framingham State, Westfield State Heading to MASCAC Women's Lacrosse Title Game

Top seed Framingham State and second seed Westfield State are headed to the 2024 MASCAC Women's Lacrosse title game after winning their semifinal contests on Thursday night.

Framingham State, Westfield State Heading to MASCAC Women's Lacrosse Title Game
May 2, 2024

Top seed Framingham State and second seed Westfield State are headed to the 2024 MASCAC Women's Lacrosse title game after winning their semifinal contests on Thursday night.

#2 Westfield State 22, #3 Worcester State 10     Box Score

WESTFIELD, Mass.  –  Westfield State grad student Kylie Buchanan (Westfield, Mass.) scored eight goals and added an assist to power the #2-seeded Owls to a 22-10 win over #3 Worcester State in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference women's lacrosse semifinals.

Westfield (11-7) advances to the MASCAC Championship game on Saturday.  The Owls will travel to play #1 Framingham State at 7:00 p.m. at Maple Street Field, adjacent the FSU campus.  The winner will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division 3 Championships.

Westfield used a 4-0 run to close the first quarter to break open what had been a tightly-contested game early.

The two teams traded goals in the early going, as Megan Bailey (Quincy, Mass.) and Natalie DeMaio (Westwood) got on the board for the Owls, with Worcester answering each time with a Shannon Donahue (Dennis, Mass.) goal for a 2-2 tie after seven minutes of play.

From there, the Owls began to extend their lead rattling off four consecutive goals, two from Buchanan, in the final 6:48 of the first quarter to lead 6-2 at the end of the first quarter.

Westfield led 10-5 after the Lancers' Mackayla Fisher (Peabody, Mass.) tallied with 3:16 left in the first half, but Westfield again pulled away with three goals from three different Owls in the final 2:49 of the half, with Kiely Hafensteiner (Niskayuna, NY) handing out assists on two of them, and Westfield led 13-5 at the half.

The Owls extended the lead to 16-6 to briefly get the clock to running time, after Arianna Andresen (Port Jefferson Station, NY) fed Buchanan from the right side on both goals, the second with 11:21 left in the third quarter.

Worcester wasn't done, adding four-goal run of their own with four different goal scorers in the spurt, the last by Ashley Hurley (Feeding Hills, Mass.) on a feed from Fisher with 2:28 left in the third, trimming the Owls lead to 16-10.

Westfield again closed the quarter with a burst, netting back-to-back goals, the second at the third-quarter buzzer as Emma Prattson (Tolland, Conn.) snared a loose ball and found DeMaio open in the center of the fan for an 18-10 Westfield lead heading to the fourth quarter.

Westfield kept Worcester off the scoreboard in the fourth quarter, getting the clock back into running time on Prattson's goal with 7:29 left in the game.

Buchanan, a graduate transfer from Western New England had her best game as an Owl after missing five games due to an injury during the middle section of the season.  DeMaio added five goals for the Owls, Prattson netted three goals and five assists, and Hafensteiner finished with two goals and four assists as the Owls posted their second-highest scoring output of the season.

Kara Banagan (Niskayuna, N.Y.) started in goal for Westfield and made seven saves in the opening 30 minutes.  Sydney Smith (Dalton, Mass./Wahconah) played the second half and made three saves.

Worcester's season comes to an end with a 10-9 record.  The Lancers were led by three goals and an assist from Abigail Wing (Griswold, Conn). Donahue finished with two goals.    Olivia LaValle (Peabody, Mass.) made 11 saves for the Lancers.

Westfield will meet Framingham in the conference title game for the fifth time since 2018.  Framingham topped #4 Bridgewater State 14-7 in the other semifinal round game tonight.

Westfield fell to Framingham, 15-14 in overtime in their regular season meeting just last Saturday.   

The Owls topped the Rams 21-15 in 2023 in the title game. Framingham last captured a MASCAC crown in 2022 when the Owls were eliminated in the semifinals.

Westfield has beaten the Rams all four times they have met in the MASCAC finals.

The Owls took a 14-13 decision in 2021 as current Owl senior DeMaio scored with five seconds left to lift Westfield to the win, defeated the rams 13-12 in 2019, and Westfield won by a 17-10 count  in 2018.

Westfield will be looking for it's sixth MASCAC tournament title overall.

 

#1 Framingham State 14, #4 Bridgewater State 7    Box Score

Framingham, Mass. - The top seeded Framingham State University women's lacrosse team defeated fourth seed Bridgewater State 14-7 this evening in one semifinal of the 2024 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Women's Lacrosse Tournament this evening at Maple Street Field. 

THE BASICS: 

- Scores:  Framingham State 14, Bridgewater State 7 

- Records: Framingham State (14-3), Bridgewater State (8-11) 

- Location:  Maple Street Field – Framingham, Mass. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS 

  • The Rams got on the board first when Hannah Guerin converted a free position shot. The Rams pushed the lead to 3-0 after goals from Regan Fein and Brandi Core. 

  • Bridgewater State got on the board with just under five minutes remaining when the Rams misplayed the ball in front of the net with Erin McIntyre being credited with the goal. The Rams closed the quarter with goals from Leah Green and Hailey Baker to lead 5-1 after one. 

  • Bridgewater closed the gap to 5-2 on a goal from Meredith Sylvia, but the Rams tallied the final two of the half and led 7-2 at the break. 

  • Bridgewater State opened the third with back-to-back goals from McIntyre closing the gap to 7-6. After trading goals, Framingham closed the third with a 4-0 run including two from Guerin and two from Green to lead 12-5 after three. 

  • In the fourth, Green opened the quarter with a goal before Bridgewater received goals from Sylvia and Savannah Harrington to make the score 13-7 with just under seven to play. Green added a goal for the Rams to reach the final margin. 

  • Isabella DiMare earned the victory in net for the Rams making 10 saves. 

  •    Green finished the game with six goals, while Guerin tallied four and added four assists. 

UP NEXT: 

The Rams are back in action on Saturday when they will host second seed Westfield State in the finals of the 2024 MASCAC Women's Lacrosse Tournament at 7 p.m. at Maple Street Field.

Releases courtesy of Framingham State and Westfield State Sports Information