The Blue celebrated Senior Day prior to the start of Saturday's game (Miranda Yang).
The Blue celebrated Senior Day prior to the start of Saturday's game (Miranda Yang).

Springfield Downs Wellesley Lacrosse on Senior Day

WELLESLEY, Mass. – Sophomore Kate Sarnacki (Granby, Mass.) scored five goals to lead visiting Springfield College to a 19-4 New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) victory over Wellesley College lacrosse on a rainy Senior Day at the Wellesley Fields Complex. 

The Pride have now won six straight games to improve to 9-6 overall and 5-2 in the NEWMAC. With the setback, Wellesley is now 5-10 overall and 1-6 in conference.

The Blue recognized seniors Ellie Chalphin (Philadelphia, Pa.), Lena Engbretson (Beaverton, Ore.), Mariana Hernandez (Orlando, Fla.), Dacia Persky (Las Vegas, Nev.), Olivia Strobl (Stafford, Va.), and Chloe Tucker (San Ramon, Calif.) in a pregame ceremony prior to the start of the game. Chalphin and Persky each scored for Wellesley, while Tucker made four saves in the first half and Hernandez picked-up a pair of ground balls in the game. 

Sarnacki added two assists to finish with a game-high seven points and two ground balls. Nine different players scored for the Pride, who also got a hat trick from Katie Martel (Hartland, Conn.) and multi-goal games from senior Katie Stallone (Seaford, N.Y.), and sophomores Camryn Field (Walpole, Mass.), Gabby Fogg (Wells, Maine), and Katie Campbell (Somers, N.Y.). Campbell added two assists and four draw controls and Fogg also had four ground balls. Springfield junior goalkeeper Brenna Keefe (Acton, Mass.) made three saves to pick-up the win (9-6).

Sarnacki and Chalphin exchanged goals in the opening four minutes of play before the Pride scored 12 unanswered goals to take a 13-1 lead at the half. Sarnacki netted a first half hat trick, scoring at 27:20, 18:43 and 15:56. A free position goal from Martel put Springfield up 11-1 with 5:38 left in the first. Goals from Campbell and sophomore Hannah Calabrese (Enfield, Conn.) at 3:38 and 1:54 closed out the half.

Springfield scored five straight goals to start the second half, taking a 17-1 lead when senior Allie Goddard (Acton, Mass.) set-up Bianca Dos Santos (Danbury, Conn.) at 8:13. Persky and first years Eleanor Mallett (Berwick, Maine) and Izzy Burdick (Scarborough, Maine) scored three straight Wellesley goals from 6:53 to 1:56 but the deficit was too large for the Blue to overcome as Springfield went on to close out the 19-4 final.

The Pride outshot the Blue by a 35-10 margin and had the advantage in ground balls (26-16) and draw controls (16-8).

Both teams will play Emerson in the final game of the regular season. Wellesley will travel to Emerson on Wednesday at 4:00 PM and Springfield will host the Lions next Saturday at 1:00 PM.