Marshall Hastings
Contributing Writer
The wind and rain on Wednesday night was as relentless as Springfield senior Meghan Flanagan for the Pride women’s lacrosse team. Any time Plymouth State pulled close to Springfield, Flanagan had an answer, firing home a game-high four goals to lead the Springfield women’s lacrosse team to a 7-6 victory over visiting Plymouth State.
Despite the cool temperatures, the Pride got off to a hot start, using goals from Flanagan and junior Kelly Gallo to jump out to a 2-0 lead with under three and a half minutes played. By the time Flanagan put home her second goal of the night, the Pride had reached a 4-0 lead.
Although the Pride raced out to an early advantage, Plymouth State used a dominating defense and constant pressure at the offensive end of the field to bring the game to 4-2 at the break.
“They adjusted their defense, and from there it was goals back and forth,” said head coach Kristen Mullady.
In the second half, the Pride traded goals with PSU until Flanagan fired home her fourth goal of the game with 14:41 to play, making it 7-4.
But the Panthers of Plymouth State had plenty of fight left in them. Using goals from sophomore Meghan McNabb and senior Caitlin Swanson, PSU cut the deficit to one with more than six minutes left to play.
That’s when the Pride defense buckled down, getting big saves from junior Anne Versprille, who finished with two saves, and lock tight defense from sophomore Ellie Getchell, who forced four turnovers.
“We were able to call a timeout and we talked about being patient on defense and not causing a foul,” recalled Mullady. “Ellie stepped up; she was very confident. She took on one of their best players one-on-one and she came up with a 50-50 ball.”
With the victory, the Pride grabbed their third straight win to begin the season, the first time the team has started 3-0 since the 2007 campaign. For Plymouth State, the Panthers dropped their season opener for the second straight season to Springfield, and haven’t managed a victory over the Pride since the 2007 season.
Springfield plays their third home game of the season on Saturday when they host Roger Williams in an attempt to keep the winning streak alive.