Women’s lacrosse opens conference play with a win

Izabela Gage / THE GATEPOST

By Izabela Gage Sports Editor By Kyra Tolley Asst. Sports Editor The women’s lacrosse team defeated the Fitchburg State University Falcons 18-8 in their first conference game March 29. This win evens their overall record to 4-4 and brings their conference record to 1-0. Head Coach Casey Bradley said, “As coaches, we told them, ‘Stop putting so much pressure on yourselves, and just play the game that you love.’ Since then, we shifted our mindset and just went out there and started playing the game, and we've seen a lot more success.” Attacker Alessia Lye was electric from the start and won the game’s first draw. This gave the Rams an advantage early on, and midfielder Molly Lanier found the back of the net only 42 seconds in. After a save by goalkeeper Bella DiMare, Framingham cleared their defensive zone, led by attacker Hailey Baker, who sprinted downfield before setting up behind Fitchburg’s net. Baker directly passed the ball to Lye, who then rocketed it to attacker Maddie Bosma, who was waiting in front of the goal. Bosma took a shot on goal and snuck right behind Fitchburg’s goalkeeper Dakin Kovatch's defense into the edge of the net. Just over a minute later, Fitchburg earned a free position shot of their own and finally scored. DiMare tallied another save before possession of the ball was turned over to the Rams and Lanier found the back of the net to bring the score to 3-1. Grout and Baker each earned a free position shot off of two Fitchburg fouls in the following 2 minutes and deepened the deficit to 5-1. Freshman Emma Kendzulak received the ball and ran through the Falcons’ defense from the 8-meter arc and shot the ball right past Kovatch’s feet and into the bottom of the goal. Lanier won the next draw, and the Rams set up a strong offense around the Falcons’ net. Lye passed the ball to Lanier, who was on her way toward the goal, and she easily broke through Kovatch’s wall of defense, bringing the score to 7-1. The Falcons picked up the pace in the following minute, scoring two goals in 26 seconds to wrap up the first quarter. DiMare caused a turnover after a wide shot by Fitchburg’s attacker, Alexis Raymond, at the start of the second quarter. After clearing the defensive zone, Bosma scored Framingham’s eighth goal of the game. The Rams tallied two more shots on goal, both saved by Kovatch, but the momentum never dwindled for the Rams as a yellow card was pulled on the Falcons. Being on the extra man offense, Bosma found the back of the net unassisted. Fitchburg scored their fourth goal, but midfielder Kelley DeBellis, a junior, was unrelenting and scored one for Framingham only 13 seconds later. The Rams received a green card and the Falcons were able to break through the strong defense and score on the extra man offense. With 2 minutes remaining in the first half, Grout and Lanier were able to strengthen Framingham’s lead with one goal each, bringing the score to 12-5. To start the third quarter, Fitchburg won the initial draw control, but Bosma quickly caused a turnover and put Framingham on the offensive. After a turnover by each team, sophomore Lindsey Cox picked up the ground ball and cleared it from the defensive end to DeBellis, who sprinted 50 yards upfield to initiate an attack for the Rams. Bosma then received the ball inside the offensive zone and shot and scored Framingham’s 13th goal of the game. Lanier won the next draw control, triggering a passing sequence that allowed Baker to whip the ball into the offensive zone from behind the net, but it flew out of bounds. With the Falcons now in possession, they used up almost the entire shot clock before senior Kaleigh Houlihan caused a turnover and started Framingham’s drive up the field. Baker picked up the ground ball and ran toward the net, but was tripped up, giving the Rams a free position shot that was ultimately saved by Kovatch. Fitchburg swiftly moved the ball up the field with only a few long passes needed to clear Framingham’s defense and get a shot off, but freshman Allison Wurms, who replaced DiMare in the net, was there to save the shot. The Falcons’ offense was unrelenting, pressuring Wurms into dropping the ball while she was far outside her crease behind the net. The subsequent ground ball was won by Fitchburg, which allowed them to capitalize on offense by scoring their sixth goal of the game. Framingham quickly responded by winning the following draw and Fitchburg received a yellow card, giving the Rams a free position shot while being a man up. Lanier drilled the ball into the bottom left of the net, which brought the score to 14-6. Just seconds later, the Rams attacked again. Bosma won the draw and immediately set Baker off to a steady charge around the back of the net. She passed the ball to Kendzulak, who shot the ball to score the 15th point for the Rams. Just 1:06 later, Grout scored off a nimble pass from Lanier with a strong downward swing of her stick. To wrap up the quarter, Grout scored once again, running from the center of the offensive zone toward the right side of the net to get a shot off from a difficult angle. The score heading into the final quarter was 17-6 in favor of the Rams. During the fourth quarter, the Falcons scored their seventh goal, despite Wurms’ efforts. Baker responded with a goal less than 3 minutes later off a free position shot that she slotted into the upper-right corner of the net. The final 5 minutes saw the Falcons scoring once more to close out the game 18-8. Bradley said, “We find small victories within the games, which help us keep the speed going.” Bosma tallied four goals in the action-filled win against the Falcons, and she now has 11 career goals as a freshman. Bosma said she works on keeping herself accountable. “Don't always shoot the first shot. Be smart.” Bradley said, “I think with Maddie, you see her week after week have that mentality of ‘OK, I can do this.’ … I think the upperclassmen have been huge with that because they give feedback - they celebrate the little things that Maddie does, and they celebrate the big things that Maddie does as well. “When you have a group of kids who really believe in you, that'll start to make you believe in yourself,” she added. For the second time this season, Lanier earned MASCAC Offensive Player of the Week March 31. Lanier said, “I always strive to play at my best intensity, and the support and talent of my team allows me to do just that, so I owe all my success to them.” In the 2-0 week for the Rams, she finished with nine goals and four assists for 13 points with 18 draw controls. Lanier has officially risen to third place for career draw controls in the history of the women's lacrosse program. She started the 2024-25 season in sixth place with 178, but has already tallied 44 in the beginning half of the season. DiMare started this season in fifth place for all-time career saves, and she has now earned a third-place spot with 68 saves so far. As of April 2, she has an current total of 314. Grout has begun to make her mark on the program early in the season as well, as she has officially moved up from fourth place to third all-time in career caused turnovers, with a current total of 81. She said she is more determined to win the MASCAC Championship for her senior year. “I know the feeling of winning it and losing it. … Everyone has this big drive to win, so I think we're going to do everything we can to take home a MASCAC this year.” Most recently, the Rams beat the Anna Maria Amcats 17-4 on April 2. This win brings their overall record to 5-4, while their conference record remains at 1-0. The Rams are back in action for an away game against conference opponent Salem State April 4. Bradley said, “I'm just excited to get really into the depth of the conference play. … Our mindset preparing for the conference has been having that mindset of everything we do has to be 100%, practicing how we play, and just going out there confident and wanting to outwork each team.”