Box Score
Junior captain Anna Blomberg (Simsbury, Conn.) and freshman Jessie Castelline (Concord, Mass.) netted six goals apiece to lead the Fighting Scots to a thrilling 14-13 win over the visiting Golden Bears of Western New England in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women's lacrosse action tonight at the Brigham Athletic Complex.

Castelline added one assist to her stat line, while junior captain Stephanie Fitzgerald (Groveland, Mass.) chipped in two goals, an assist, and six draw controls to the winning effort. Earning the win in the cage was junior keeper Danielle Maguire (Braintree, Mass.), who made all six of her saves in the first half to help lift the Scots to 5-1 overall on the season, 1-1 in conference.

WNE had several offensive standouts on the night as Taylor Scialdone (Fr./Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) and Kaitlynn Stevens (So./Stratford, Conn.) recorded four goals apiece and Jessica Scannapieco (So./Blue Bell, Pa.) booked three goals and an assist. Rounding out the scoring were Kelsey Sherman (Jr./Buchanan, N.Y.) and Megan Doyle (Gr./Putnam Valley, N.Y.), Sherman with one goal, one assist and Doyle with a single tally. Netminder Emily Castleman (So./Wilbraham, Mass.) turned away eight shots in the loss, which drops WNE to 5-3 overall, 1-1 in the CCC.

The Scots looked to be in trouble in the early going as WNE opened the night with four straight goals in the first six minutes, two from Stevens and one each from Sherman and Scialdone. Blomberg stopped that run with her first tally on an unassisted effort at 24:06 to make it a 4-1 game. Five and half minutes later, Fitzgerald took advantage of a man-up opportunity and drew the Scots one closer after collecting a feed from Castelline and beating Castleman high to make it 4-2. Stevens struck again, though, just 22 seconds later on the Golden Bears' own man-up situation to keep the gap at three.

Castelline then notched her first two on back-to-back efforts at 16:41 and 15:55, but the Golden Bears were quick to respond with a pair of their own over the next two minutes to maintain the lead, 7-4. The Scots, however, outscored their guests 3-1 in the remaining minutes of the first to trail by one at the break (8-7).

At the start of the second, Castelline continued her offensive tear with a goal off a Bailey Grinnell (Fr./South Hamilton, Mass.) assist just a minute and a half in to bring the game back to even for the first time since the opening whistle. WNE quickly tipped the scales back in their favor off Scannapieco and Scialdone goals at 25:00 and 23:32, respectively, to make it a 10-8 game.

Blomberg and Castelline then took over once again on the offensive end for Gordon, as Blomberg netted two straight off Grinnell and Fitzgerald feeds and Castelline converted a solo effort to give the Scots their first lead of the night, 11-10. After nearly four minutes of scoreless play, Doyle beat Maguire on a free position to level the game at 11-11, but Blomberg had the answer at 12:21 to give the Scots the edge once again.

With the game knotted at 12-12 following Scannapieco's third tally at 11:14, the Scots took their first multi-goal lead when Fitzgerald and Castelline converted back-to-back efforts at 9:55 and 8:13 to make it a 14-12 game. And though Stevens would inch her team closer with a free position goal at 2:41, the Scots managed the clock with solid possession down the stretch to preserve the narrow one-goal victory.

The Scots return to play following the Easter holiday on Tuesday, April 2 as they travel for a CCC duel with Curry at 6:30 p.m. WNE will host Castleton this Saturday, March 30 at 1 p.m.