By Braedan Shea
@braedan_shea
Preparing for another draw, one of the official’s centered the ball on Springfield College women lacrosse midfielder Sarah Newton and an opposing Clark University’s players sticks, Newton stood with a stillness rivaling the James Naismith statue on the center of the Springfield College campus.
Once satisfied, the referee backpedaled away from midfield, right hand raised and whistle in mouth. A few seconds later and about seven yards away, the official blew their whistle. Newton, almost as quickly as the noise was made, flicked the ball effortlessly to Pride teammate Maddy Roy.
Roy, who was already in motion to receive the draw control in the air, bolted toward the left sideline. Doing her best 40-yard dash attempt, Roy completely caught the Cougars flat-footed, breaking free from any defender and heading directly to Clark’s goal.
20 yards out from the net, Roy seemed poised to rush the goalie and add goal number 13 on the season. Instead, in the midst of an already scrambling Clark defense, Roy fired a pass over the middle to a lane-filling Lily Johnson. Johnson, almost as quickly as she received the pass, flipped the ball to the right wing to graduate Arielle Johnson.
Arielle, with a one-on-one with the Cougar goalie Annie Battle, showed no mercy blasting a shot over Battle’s right shoulder. As Arielle’s stick hit the ground to end the possession, the entire sequence took just ten seconds off the clock on Stagg Field, pushing Springfield’s lead to 5-0 with 8:40 still left to play in the first quarter.
Clark, fresh off a 23-2 loss just two days ago to MIT, was clearly no match for the Pride. Springfield continued its conference dominance with a 19-2 victory, moving to 8-2 overall, remaining perfect in the NEWMAC and at home.
While the offense was firing on all cylinders, with ten players finding the back of the net, it was Newton and her draws that propelled the Pride early.
In the opening quarter, Newton won nine of 11 draws, almost completely preventing Clark from getting the ball into Springfield territory. As the first quarter concluded, the Pride already enacted running clock – which occurs when a team is up by 10 or more – entering the second quarter with more goals (10) than Clark shots (five).
In addition to Newton’s dominance, Clark had no answer for the two Johnson’s, who accounted for six of those 10 goals and four assists, including three connections between themselves. Lily Johnson’s four goals was a team high, and she regained the team’s season lead, overtaking Samantha Andresen.
One of the biggest bright spots for Springfield, however, came on the defensive side. Although the offensive dominance kept Clark from getting shots off, when they did, success was nearly impossible. Senior goalkeeper Colleen Browne, who is starting in place of the injured Haley Moody, has been on a tear, and that continued against the Cougars.
Browne was a perfect 4-4 on shots faced in the first quarter, and ended the game with six saves and just two goals allowed.
Browne’s most impressive effort came with under six minutes left to play in the opening quarter. After one of Springfield’s only rough stretches of the game, where three players received cards and another committed a foul setting up a free position attempt, Browne stood tall. With almost no teammates in front of her, the attempt looked more like a hockey penalty shoot-out than free position.
Clark’s Aubrey Conners bolted directly at Browne, reared back her stick and rifled a shot at the net, hoping to get the Cougars on the board. Instead, Browne calmy stood still, reached up her stick and made the save, kicking the ball to first-year Hailey Gaydos. On the ensuing possession, Gaydos scored, still down the three players.
“Colleen [Browne] has really stepped up immensely for our team, which has been fantastic,” said Springfield head coach Jenn Thomas. “Her presence and her knowledge of the game has been great. She’s just really stepped into that role while Moody has been out, and we just hope that she can continue to do that for us.”
With now three games in a row that the running clock rule has been enforced, Springfield will head into New London, Conn. against a sneaky opponent in Coast Guard Academy. Despite losing to NEWMAC powerhouses MIT and Babson, The Bears have stayed competitive in both, and will be Springfield’s first conference test of the season.
“We’re still competitive even though the clock is running, which is exciting, but I do think that we utilized today to prepare for Wednesday,” Thomas said. “We understand how big of a game Wednesday is going to be. So really it was we’re playing and beating Clark today, take the weekend off, and then first thing on Monday we’re going to scout and prep for Coast Guard. They’re ready to be competitive, they’re ready to face a really strong team.”
Thomas is looking forward to the matchup, and knows that her team can pick up the win as long as the follow the gameplan and prepare enough.
“Coast Guard is intense, aggressive and everything in between. Overall, they’re just such an athletic team. Their coach is phenomenal. It’s all going to come down to discipline and if we follow the game plan, so that’s really what we’re going to be focusing on early next week.”
Photo by Springfield College Athletics