NEWTON, Mass. – Despite a gutsy effort, the Norwich University women's lacrosse team came up short in its bid to move on in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament as the seventh-seeded Cadets surrendered a 15-8 decision to second seed Lasell University in the quarterfinal match-up at Grellier Field. 

The Lasers won their fifth straight game and improve to 6-1 overall, while Norwich completes its season at 2-6. Lasell moves onto the semifinals and will host third-seeded Johnson & Wales University on Wednesday, April 28, at 4 p.m. at Grellier Field. The Wildcats (5-3) advanced to the semifinals Saturday with a 24-7 victory over the sixth-seeded University of Saint Joseph (Connecticut).

The Lasell-Norwich game Saturday was a far cry from the regular season encounter, when the Lasers rolled to a 23-6 victory back on March 20. The Cadets, playing without one of their top scorers, ran out to an early 3-1 lead thanks to consecutive goals from senior Emily Schromm (North Attleboro, Mass.), sophomore Allison Sturgeon (Monticello, Ind.), and senior Kathryn Preul (Scottsdale, Ariz.).

Lasell responded right back with three-straight goals of its own from the dynamic duo of junior Sydney Brady and graduate Jordan McComb who would account for 13 of the team's 15 goals in the game.

Sturgeon notched her second of the game to knot the score at 4-4 midway through the first half before the Lasers ran the table to end the period with three more to take a 7-4 lead into the break.

The Cadet shooters were zeroed in on target and efficient on offense early on in the game hitting the mark on all their shots and scoring four times on just seven shots in the opening frame.

After the teams went back and forth for two goals each to start the second half, Sturgeon scored the fourth of her career-high five goals to pull the Cadets to within 9-7. Norwich endured some bad luck bounces with several opportunities to close the gap, but Lasell tightened up the defense and allowed just one more goal the rest of the way.

Brady sealed the victory with the final four Laser goals, including three while playing with a player advantage due to Norwich trying to aggressively cause turnovers to regain possession but picking up a few penalties as a matter of recourse.

Schromm was a big contributor for Norwich, scoring two goals and adding seven ground balls, four caused turnovers, and three draw controls. She finishes her Norwich career with 110 points (78G, 31A) and ranked within the top 10 all-time in assists, groundballs, caused turnovers, draw controls.

Graduate Morgan Choquet made seven saves to earn the win between the pipes for the Lasers, while senior Sydney Rocheville (Salem, Mass.) made 14 saves at the other end for the Cadets, including six on free position attempts which helped quell the normally efficient Lasell shooters who came into the contest converting their attempts at well over 50 percent. In the contest, the hosts were just 4-of-12 on free-position shots.