NEW LONDON, N.H. – April 30, 2018 – The Colby-Sawyer women's lacrosse team defeated New England College, 21-6, in Monday's North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Tournament semifinal game.  

Colby-Sawyer improves to 10-5 and will play at top seed Castleton on Saturday, May 5 at 8 p.m. for the NAC Championship. The Chargers advance to their second NAC title game and third conference final overall. Colby-Sawyer has reached double-digit wins for the fourth-straight season. Castleton defeated fourth seed UMaine-Farmington, 15-8, in a semifinal contest on Sunday. In the regular season matchup between Castleton and Colby-Sawyer, the Spartans protected home field with a 17-9 victory.

Colby-Sawyer senior Nicole Lavigne (Berlin, Vt.) led all players with six goals to set a single-season record with 75. She added seven draw controls, six ground balls and three caused turnovers. Junior Sierra Schuster (Hopkinton, N.H.) scored five times, while junior Brittany Ireland (Amherst, N.H.) registered four goals. Freshman Sarah Morin (Pelham, N.H.) added three tallies. Freshman Jess Tattersall (Keene, N.H.) and freshman Briana Couture (South Hadley, Mass.) scored twice and once, respectively, to account for the Colby-Sawyer goals. Freshman Madison Johansson (Stratham, N.H.) was second on the team with five ground balls.  

New England College (9-8) was led by junior Tara Bainbridge (South Hadley, Mass.) who scored four times and added an assist. Sophomore Ashley McNamara (Danbury, Conn.) and junior Alana Scott (Huntington, Vt.) each added a goal. Junior Alyssa Tursi (East Rockaway, N.Y.) collected team highs of three ground balls and three caused turnovers.  

NEC built some early momentum to open the game, scoring three times in 1:42 with two goals from Bainbridge and one from Scott. Colby-Sawyer settled down, regrouped and scored 12 unanswered goals throughout the rest of the half to take a 12-3 lead at the break.

Ireland put the Chargers in front 13-3, 40 seconds into the second half, before NEC responded with a pair of goals to cut the deficit to 13-5. Colby-Sawyer turned up the intensity once again and outscored the Pilgrims 8-1 in the final 25 minutes of the game to cruise to their second victory of the season over NEC.

Sophomore Kailyn Lapham (Medway, Mass.) finished with six saves to earn her 11th career victory to tie for sixth all-time with Tammy Hoyt '91. NEC goalie McKenzie Gallasso (South Windsor, Conn.) had 12 stops in the loss. 

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