May 3, 2008

Castleton falls in NEWLA Championship to Bridewater State

Bridgewater, MA-The second-seeded Castleton State College women's lacrosse team fell to top-seed Bridgewater State 19-5 in the New England Women's Lacrosse Alliance (NEWLA) championship game.

The Spartans, who have won a program-record 11 (11-6) games this season, had no answer for the high-powered Bear offense.

Bridgewater, which tied the school record for most wins in a season with 14 (14-4), will now await word on a possible postseason berth.  The NCAA Division III Tournament pairings will be announced Sunday and the ECAC Division III Tournament pairings will be announced on Monday. The NEWLA does not own an automatic qualifier, so BSC would have to be an at-large selection to get into the NCAA Tournament.

Sophomore midfielder Shannon Manning scored five goals and added an assist to lead the Bears.

The Bears jumped out to a 4-0 lead and took a 12-3 advantage into halftime.

Freshman attack Jenny Jones added four goals and pair of assists in the win. Sophomore attack Katie DeMaio chipped in with two goals and two assists, while freshman attack Courtney Lennon tallied a goal and two assists to go along with five draw controls.

Sophomore goaltender Meghan Griffin turned aside seven shots to record her ninth win of the season against just three losses. 

Freshman attack Marie VanDerKar paced Castleton with three goals and five draw controls.  Junior netminder Meredith Pope took the loss in goal for the Spartans.  Pope (10-7) registered three saves in one half of play. 

The NEWLA Tournament championship is the Bears’ third overall and first since the 2003 season.  Bridgewater competed as an independent women’s lacrosse program from 2005 to 2007 before rejoining the NEWLA prior to the start of this season. [Game Stats]

###Spartans###