Seahawks edged out by Western New England

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Western New England women's lacrosse team scored five times in the opening seven minutes of action to lead the Golden Bears past Salve Regina, 14-8, in the Commonwealth Coast Conference opener for both teams.

Freshman Taylor Scialdone (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) had a hand in four of the Golden Bears first five goals, handing out two assists sandwiched around two goals of her own before Salve Regina's Gina Tortorici (Deer Park, N.Y.) got the Seahawks on the board with her sixth goal of the year.

Western New England answered with a goal just 35 seconds after Tortoici's, but the Seahawks fired back with two goals, one from each seniors Jennifer Jones (Basking Ridge, N.J.) and Grace Kelly (Georgetown, Mass.) to cut the WNE lead in half, 6-3.

Jones scored her second of the game with just 2:59 left in the opening half before Kaitlynn Stevens (Stratford, Conn.) scored with 25 seconds left to put the Golden Bears up, 9-4. 

After two quick goals by WNE opened the second half, Tortorici netted her second of the game before senior Kelly Burke (Georgetown, Mass.) and Jones scored to cut into the Golden Bears lead, 12-7. With 7:19 left in the half, Jones sent home her team-leading 12th goal of the season to cap the Seahawks scoring before Julianna Greene (Brightwaters, N.Y.) finished off the scoring with her first of the afternoon. 

Jones led the Seahawks with four goals while Burke handed out two assists. 

Senior Josephine O'Reilly (Portsmouth, R.I.) saved a game-high 16 shots in the loss.

Salve Regina returns to the turf when the Seahawks travel to Eastern Connecticut State on Saturday, March 16. The opening draw is set for 1 p.m.