WLAX Tabs Road Win with 7 Blazers Padding the Stat Board

NORTH ADAMS, MA – The Elms College women's lacrosse team tabbed their first win of the season, after opening up season play at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts for a non-conference matchup yesterday afternoon, resulting in a 17-2 lead.

THE BASICS:

SCORE: Elms 17, MCLA 2

RECORDS: Elms (1-0, 0-0 GNAC), MCLA (0-1) 

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Elise Paier opened up the game only 23 seconds in with an unassisted goal off of a Anna-Elise Pikul draw. Shannen Salamon got on the board soon after Paier, then Frankwicz joined the pair with ten minutes to play in the first quarter, advancing the Blazers to a 3-0 lead. Throughout the rest of the first quarter, 6 Blazers padded the scoreboard with goals from Elise Paier, Shannen Salamon, Greta Frankwicz, Elese Ciarcia, Lauren Fletcher and Taylor Borla.

Salamon added her second of the day with 8:33 left and then Elese Ciarcia potted her first to increase the margin to 5-0.  Fletcher and Taylor Borla rounded out the first quarter scoring as Elms posted a 7-0 lead.

The Blazers continued the offensive action in the second quarter as goals from Anna-Elise Pikul and Fletcher increased the lead to 9-0.  Later in the quarter, Frankwicz posted a pair of markers to make it 11-0 at the break.

Elms widened the gap in the third quarter before MCLA finally found some offense, adding two goals to the board.

Elms' Emma Walsh earned the win between the pipes stopping 10 shots in the first half of play, as Gianna Liquori relieved her in the second half posting up 3 saves. The Blazers outshot MCLA 38-24 in the contest.

Fletcher, Frankwicz, Paier and Salamon ended the day with hat-tricks. Sophomore defender, Ava LaRoche also made her way up to the offensive end notching 2 assists.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• First-year, Lauren Fletcher made her first collegiate mark with 3 goals and 1 assist
• First-year, Shannen Salamon joined Fletcher with 3 goals
• First-year, Greta Frankwicz joined the squad as well with 3 goals
• Sophomore, Elise Paier held her own with 3 goals
• Captain, Taylor Borla sand 2 goals, 1 assist and 4 draw controls
• Senior, Elese Ciarcia got on the board with 2 goals
• Anna-Elise Pikul hopped on board with 1 goal and 6 draw controls
• Sophomore defender, Ava LaRoche entered the stats board with 2 assists and 3 ground balls

FROM THE DESK OF COACH Q:

"It felt so good to be back out on the field for the start of our 2022 season schedule. I'm so proud of how controlled the team played, connecting through transition, and handling the ball. Our first-years really stepped up and found their voice today, and I'm so excited to see this continue throughout the season. Huge shoutout to both goalies who quickly adjusted to MCLA's turf, and came up huge in the win! All eyes on Saturday as we begin our conference play."

UP NEXT:

The Blazers are back in action for their home opener, starting their GNAC conference play against Rivier University next Saturday, 3/12 for a 1PM start.

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