Women's Lacrosse Comes Up Short Against Daniel Webster

Nashua, NH – Trailing 9-6 seven minutes into the second half, the Daniel Webster women’s lacrosse team rallied to outscore Becker College 7-3 over the final 22 minutes and escape with a 13-12 thriller over the Hawks in their season finale at a blustery and rain swept Eagle Field Wednesday.

Freshman Stephanie Zeman (Jefferson Township, N.J.) capped the rally tying the game at 12 with 3:21 to play and then netted the game-winner with 2:46 left as the Eagles finished 4-7 overall in their second varsity season.

Zeman would finish with four strikes and assisted on another while sophomore Natalie Bates (N. Kingstown, R.I.) notched a game-high six goals. Rookie Samantha Cotoni (Groton, Mass.) and sophomore Eveline Lopes (Dorchester, Mass.) added solo scores.

Nicole Lijana (Moorestown, N.J.) paced the Hawks (5-9) with five goals and two assists, while Morgan Hazen (Woodstock, Vt.) added three goals and an assist, closing to within two scores of 100 for her career.

Vanessa Laureano (Dracut, Mass.) added three goals for Becker, while Brooke Cote (Fitchburg, Mass.) scored one.

Lindsay Peluso (Dudley, Mass.) was kept busy making 16 saves for Becker, while Laura Gianetti (Ashburnham, Mass.) made six tops for the Eagles.

The game was a remarkable turnaround from the programs’ first meeting last season, won by Becker 23-1. Daniel Webster finished with advantages in total shots (37-23), shots on goal (29-18), groundballs (27-19) and added a pivotal 13-10 victory in draw controls including a 10-4 advantage in the second half that helped change the momentum of the game.

Becker held first half leads of 3-0 and 5-2, and build a 9-6 lead after Laureano’s third of the day with 22:48 remaining.

But DWC would answer with four straight from Lopes, Bates, and Cotoni to tie it and Bates would give the Eagles their first lead at 10-9 with 12:29 left.

Lijana followed with two goals less than four minutes apart before Pedersen would tie it on a free position with 6:06 to go.

Hazen put Becker back up 12-11 on a free position with 3:57 left before the Eagles staged their final comeback.