(Box Score) 

            PLYMOUTH, N.H. - Juniors Taylor Cambal (West Yarmouth, Mass.) and Kalie Judd (Peabody, Mass.) and freshman Brianna Davis (Framingham, Mass.) each recorded four goals and one assist Saturday afternoon as Plymouth State University defeated Western Connecticut State University, 18-11, in a Little East Conference women's lacrosse game at Arold Field.

            The Panthers celebrated Senior Day with their third straight victory, improving to 4-1 in the conference and 4-7 overall.  PSU, which won only one game last year, has clinched a home game in the upcoming conference tournament.  WestConn dropped its fourth in a row and fell to 1-5 in the LEC, 6-8 overall.

            Judd led the Panthers with seven ground balls, three caused turnovers and four draw controls, and freshman Nicole Grover (Yarmouth, Maine) added two goals, five ground balls and two draw controls.

            Senior Ashley Caruso (Northport, N.Y.) led the Colonials with four goals and an assist, classmate Whitney Fairchild (New Milford, Conn.) scored three goals and junior Jessica Majeski (Norwalk, Conn.) added two.  Freshman Lauren Poppe (Brookfield, Conn.) collected a game-high eight ground balls.

            The teams traded leads in the first half, PSU going up 2-0 and WestConn answering with four in a row for a 4-2 advantage.  The Panthers scored the next two, but the visitors regained the lead, 5-4, with 14 minutes remaining.  Plymouth State scored twice in the last three minutes of the half to take a 6-5 lead at the break, including the go-ahead goal by freshman Jill Gerzabek (Branford, Conn.) with just 13 seconds on the clock.

            PSU pulled away in the second half, scoring the next four goals and eight of the next nine to assume a 14-6 advantage with 12:40 remaining. WestConn forged a comeback attempt, but Taylor and Davis tallied two goals each for PSU down the stretch to solidify the victory.

            Both freshman goalies played well in their respective nets, with PSU's Nicole Provencher (Guilford, Conn.) and WCSU's Mercedes Koehler (Bethel, Conn.) each finished with 13 saves.  Plymouth State finished with a 40-30 advantage in shots, while WestConn had a narrow margin in ground balls (27-25) and draw controls (16-14).

            PSU wraps up the regular season with a pair of road games in the Granite State, Tuesday at Keene State (4:30 p.m.) and Thursday at Colby-Sawyer (4:00 p.m.)  WestConn has three home games to conclude the regular season, beginning Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. vs. Worcester State College.

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