Women's Lacrosse: Norwich tops St. Joseph (Conn.) in GNAC tilt, 18-10

WINDSOR, Conn. – The Norwich University women's lacrosse team picked up its second Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) win after defeating the University of St. Joseph Connecticut 18-10 on Wednesday night at Loomis Chaffee Field. The Cadets improved to 4-4 overall and 2-4 in the GNAC while the Blue Jays fall to 3-5 and 1-4 in the conference.

Freshman Chapel Guarnieri (Pepperell, Mass.) would score a career-high six goals on seven shots, while junior Gina Conroy (Amherst, N.H.) netted five goals and two assists. Senior Hope Royce (Washington, Vt.) would contribute three goals with freshman Teresa Segreti (Salisbury Mills, N.Y.) netting a goal.

For the Blue Jays, senior Rachel Foster (Newington, Conn.) led the team with four goals and two assists, extending her career assist record to 55, while teammate Dayna Gambino (Newington, Conn.) extended the school record to 155 career goals after scoring three tonight. Sophomore Vicky Thai (West Hartford, Conn.) would net two and freshman Danielle Bazzano (South Windsor, Conn.) would put in one goal for St. Joseph.

St. Joseph would get on the board early on a goal from Foster 1:11 into the opening draw before Conroy tied it up for Norwich three minutes later. The Blue Jays would extend their lead to two in a span of 13 seconds before Norwich recorded its second goal from Guarnieri at the 17:17 mark. St. Joseph would add its fourth goal of the game From Gambino before the Cadets netted a pair of goals by Conroy and Royce to tie it up at four apiece with 12:17 to play in the first half.

The Blue Jays would score once more in the half to hold onto the lead before Norwich scored four straight to take over the lead for the first time in the game and extend it to three for the 8-5 score at the break.

The Cadets remained hot on shooting, scoring four straight to open the second half for the 12-5 lead with 17:56 remaining in the game. Foster and Gambino would find the back of the net to snap the Blue Jay's scoring drought as both teams traded a pair of goals before Guarnieri netted a pair of goals for the Maroon and Gold to make it 16-9 with 2:19 on the clock. St. Joseph would score its tenth and final goal from Foster before Guarnieri added her fifth and sixth goals in the final seconds to give Norwich the 18-10 win.

Norwich outshot St. Joseph 36-26 and held a 17-8 ground ball advantage. The Cadets won 16 draw controls, with Guarnieri picking up five, and converted five goals off of the seven free position attempts.

Norwich's goalkeeper Courtney Hudson (Burke, Va.) made 11 saves for her third win of the season. St. Joseph's freshman goalie Emily Bourassa (Bristol, Conn.) turned away 12 shots in the loss.

The Cadets next in action on Saturday when they host Mount Ida College at home on Senior Day with a start time of 1:00 p.m. The Blue Jays will be in action Saturday when they face Simmons College on the road for the 12:00 p.m. conference matchup.