Golden Bears Fall to Smith in Non-Conference Action, 14-2

Breen & Staffu score for Western New England

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (March 1, 2018) – The Western New England University women's lacrosse team suffered a 14-2 setback to Smith College on Thursday afternoon in non-conference action at Golden Bear Stadium. 

Top Performers
• Junior Kristen Breen (Ellington, Conn.) and sophomore Marissa Staffu (Shrub Oak, N.Y.) both scored for Western New England, while Breen also collected four ground balls and caused one turnover.

• Senior midfielder Caroline Myran (Philadelphia, Pa.) powered Smith with a seven-point effort, as she scored five goals and set up two others while also recording eight ground balls, four caused turnovers and three draw controls.
• Senior attack Julia Hamilton (Williamstown, Mass.) was also a key offensive contributor for the Pioneers with three goals and one assist.

Game Review
Hamilton opened the scoring for Smith 4:20 into the contest, and the Pioneers went up 3-0 at the 23:50 mark on Myran's first goal of the afternoon.

Breen scored on a feed from sophomore Eileen Ruby (New Fairfield, Conn.) to get the Golden Bears on the board 52 seconds later, but Smith answered with four straight tallies to open up a 7-1 advantage with 11:28 left in the first half.

Staffu converted a free position opportunity for her first goal of the season with 7:48 on the clock as Western New England cut its deficit to five (7-2). Myran (4:35) and Hamilton (0:11) both struck for the visitors later in the half, however, as Smith established a 9-2 cushion at the break.

The Pioneers outscored the Golden Bears 5-0 in the second half with five different goal scorers to extend the final margin to 12.

Notes
• Smith outshot Western New England 27-24 and held a 13-5 advantage in draw controls.  
• The Pioneers were successful on 22-of-31 clear attempts, while Western New England went 15-for-27.
• Breen and freshman Reilly Miller (Goshen, N.Y.) tied for the team-high with five shots each.

Up Next
Western New England (0-2) will be back in action next Tuesday at Castleton, while Smith (1-0) travels to Boston on Saturday to take on Simmons.