CCC Semifinals: No. 2 Women's Lacrosse Bests No. 3 Western New England, 16-5

BEVERLY, Mass. – The second-seeded Endicott women's lacrosse team defeated third-seeded Western New England, 14-4, in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Semifinals on Wednesday night at Hempstead Stadium.

Kiana Napolitano (Revere, Mass.) highlighted the Gulls on both ends by leading all scorers with a five-goal effort. The graduate student added three assists on the night as well.

Emerson Clark (Gloucester, Mass.) and Jaira Paine (Granby, Conn.) also recorded hat tricks, while Leah Black (Cheshire, Conn.) and Clare Wendell (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) found the back of the net twice in the win.  

Gilly Hartt (Old Saybrook, Conn.) rounded out the list of goal scores for the Blue and Green with one tally. 

The Gulls raced out to a 9-1 halftime advantage and never looked back. Endicott had five different goal-scorers in the first half highlighted by Napolitano's four goals.

In goal, Lydia Akins (Edina, Minn.) made 12 saves to improve to 10-7. 

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE 

• Endicott is now 25-6 all-time versus Western New England.
• The Gulls advance to the CCC Championship game for the eighth consecutive season. 
• Napolitano recorded five goals in last season's CCC Semifinals matchup versus Salve Regina.
• Endicott won 16 draw controls to Western New England's seven.

WHAT'S NEXT 

No. 2 seed Endicott (11-7) will now travel to No. 1 seed Roger Williams in the CCC Championship game on Saturday, May 4 with a 1:00 PM start time. Western New England's season comes to a close at 8-11.

(Photo Credit - David Le '10)