Box Score NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Despite losing its regular season finale 20-9 to Johnson & Wales (R.I.) Saturday afternoon, the Norwich University women's lacrosse team was able to clinch its seventh straight Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) playoff berth since 2008.
Norwich (5-6, 3-5 GNAC) has clinched the seventh seed and will travel to second-seeded Lasell College for the 3:30 p.m. contest, while Johnson & Wales (11-2, 6-2 GNAC) earned the third seed and will host Simmons College in the quarterfinal round for the 7:00 p.m. draw, which begins on Wednesday, April 22.
The Cadets were led by senior attacker Gina Conroy (Amherst, N.H.) with six points on four goals and two assists, while freshman Teresa Segreti (Salisbury Mills, N.Y.) contributed two goals on three shots. Senior Hope Royce (Washington, Vt.) along with sophomores Meghan Albert (Lanesborough, Mass.) and Chapel Guarnieri (Pepperell, Mass.) each netted a goal for the Cadets. Segreti would post a team-high four draw controls, while senior Emma Smith (Patterson, N.Y.) led the team with six ground balls.
Freshman attacker Raquel Pederzani (Coventry, R.I.) posted a team-high 11 points with five goals and six assists for the Wildcats. Sophomore Lydia Knapp would add five points on three goals a pair of assists to go along with a team-high 10 draw controls while four Wildcats scored two goals with four others recording a goal in the contest.
Johnson & Wales jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in a span of two minutes before recording its fifth goal six minutes later. The Cadets would score back-to-back goals from Conroy and Segreti to make it a 5-2 affair with 20:16 remaining in the first half. Both teams would put the ball into the back of the net four times before the Wildcats closed the half with back-to-back goals for the 11-6 lead at the break.
Norwich looked to get back into the game after Conroy scored unassisted to open the second half, however the Wildcats would score eight straight goals in the next 22 minutes to extend their lead, 19-7. The Cadets would tack on a pair of goals from Royce and Conroy before the Wildcats recorded their 20th goal of the game from sophomore Erin Haggerty (Bow, N.H.) for her first goal of the season.
Goalkeepers Irene Okubo (Chicago, Ill.) started in between the pipes for Norwich for the first 38:26, turning away six shots before Courtney Hudson (Burke, Va.) filled in the remaining 21:34 minutes and came up with two saves in the loss. Johnson & Wales' Genevieve Giampietro (Meriden, Conn.) would earn her 11th win of the season after posting three saves on 12 shots in the win.
