Second Half Adjustments Pay Dividends In Women's Lax Win Over Elms

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Freshman Kerri Anselmo (Natick, Mass.) dazzled with a game-high six goals and the Regis (Mass.) women's lacrosse team turned a halftime deficit into a four-goal win, beating Elms College 10-6 in a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) clash at Leary Field Sunday afternoon. The Blazers dip to 3-1 on the season, and 2-1 in conference action, while Regis rises to 2-0 in the NECC, and 7-1 overall.

The Pride broke the scoreless tie in the third minute of play as sophomore Taylor Assarian (Arlington, Mass.) found the back of the net to give Regis a 1-0 lead. The Pride added to their lead at the 24:50 mark when Assarian found sophomore Emily Kosak (Milton, Mass.) in front of the net, followed by an unassisted strike from freshman Kerri Anselmo (Natick, Mass.) two minutes later to push Regis ahead 3-0.

The Blazers cracked the scoreboard with 14:36 remaining in the first half, as sophomore Vanessa Vurno (Salem, Conn.) potted a free-position attempt, and then scored off a pass from freshman Alecia Keesee (Westfield, Mass.) at 12:20 to trim the gap to 3-2. Less than thirty seconds later, freshman Janis Christian (Westfield, Mass.) drew a free-position opportunity and beat Regis junior goalie Maresa Malcolm (Barrington, N.J.) to even the score at 3-3.

The Blazers pulled ahead late in the first half as Vurno registered her second hat trick of the season with a tally off a feed from Christian at 3:43, and then provided the assist as junior Jackie Soucia (Belchertown, Mass.) found the back of the net with 1:53 on the clock. Anselmo netted her second of the day on a free-position attempt to trim the Elms lead to 5-4 at the half.

The Pride offense took control in the second half with six straight goals, ignited when junior Nicole Roche (Waltham, Mass.) converted a free-position opportunity to even the score at 5-5 two minutes into the period. At the 24:23 mark, Anselmo spotted junior Linsay Bumila (Raynham, Mass.) in front of the net, and Bumila tucked a shot past Elms senior keeper Meeghan O'Connor (Fall River, Mass.) to put Regis ahead for good. Anselmo took over the game, depositing four goals over the next ten minutes of play to build a 10-5 gap. The Blazers added a late strike from Keesee en route to the 10-6 defeat.

Vurno paced the Blazers offense with four points on three goals and an assist. Christian tallied two assist with a goal, while Keesee had a goal and an assist in the loss.

Anselmo led all scorers with a game-high seven points with a game-high six goals and an assist. Assarian notched a goal and an assist, while Roche, Bumila and Kosak rounded out the Pride scoring efforts.

The Pride outshot the Blazers, 29-19, and won the ground ball battle, 32-26. O'Connor made a season-high 12 saves for Elms, while Malcolm stopped seven shots for the Pride.

Regis hosts Daniel Webster in conference action Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. while the Blazers will look to return to the win column with an NECC road trip to Becker Tuesday night for a 6:30 p.m. tilt.

#RegisWLAX