Staff Writer
The size and speed of national powerhouse Trinity College proved to be too much for the Springfield College women’s lacrosse team, reflected by a 12-6 loss in a battle held Wednesday evening on Amos Alonzo Stagg Field.
Despite “one of her best games,” as described by coach Kristen Mullady, goalie Anne Versprille and Springfield just could not keep up with the offensive attack of the Bantams. The sophomore finished the game with 14 saves.
”Anne stepped up today,” said Mullady. “She had a lot of saves, our defense played really well and caused some bad shots.”
Springfield experienced the flex of the Bantams’ attack early in the contest when Trinity junior Hadley Duncan caught a textbook clearing pass, split down the alley and blew one by Versprille, just 2:21 into the game. Three minutes later, senior Caite Irvine netted back-to-back goals of her own, giving the Bantams an early lead and a momentum advantage.
Duncan, who never slowed down after her opening goal, finished the game with a game-high five goals.
The Pride held strong throughout the course of the game, preventing Trinity scoring runs by icing the Bantams with goals of their own. After Trinity’s fast start, Springfield, senior midfielder Jackie Moscardelli added to her team-leading 30 goals by gracefully dodging to avoid pressure and stinging a shot into the bottom right corner of the net. Moscardelli saw her goal total increase by finishing with a hat trick.
Although Moscardelli had a successful day, Springfield’s high-octane offense, averaging about 12 goals a game, struggled for most of the afternoon.
The Trinity zone appeared to be very successful, holding the Pride offense to just six goals.
“It was a fast paced game. Trinity came out and played a zone on us, and that definitely threw us off our game,” said Mullady. “We had to make adjustments and unfortunately we didn’t make the adjustments until the end of the second half Our attack got better, but it took us a little too long.”
Other notable performances for the Pride came from junior midfielder Allie Davis, who pumped in a goal along with an assist, and freshman Emily Rodgers, who scored a late goal on a free position shot. Senior Midfielders Brittany LeGuelaff and Kelly Foley played sound defense and provided Springfield with much needed energy as well.
“We played pretty well. They’re a pretty tough team,” said Versprille. “We have some work to do but hopefully we’ll pick it up for Saturday.”
The Pride look to bounce back against NEWMAC-foe MIT on Saturday at 1 p.m. back on Stagg Field.