MANSFIELD, Conn. – Tournament MVP Taylor MacDonald (Oak Bluffs, MA) had three goals and three assists, picked up seven ground balls, won four draws and caused two turnovers to lead the top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University women's lacrosse team to a 17-10 win over the second-seeded University of Southern Maine Saturday afternoon in the title match of the 2008 Little East Conference Tournament.

The LEC title is the second straight and third in four years for Eastern (11-6), which won all six of its conference regular-season games and both tournament contests for the second straight year. The title game appearance is the first for Southern Maine (8-9), which was eliminated by the Warriors in last year's semifinals. With the win, Eastern qualifies automatically for its third NCAA tournament appearance in four years. Pairings will be announced Monday.

In winning its 16th straight conference match, Eastern never trailed, racing out to a 7-1 lead with eight minutes left in the first half. The Warriors led by four at halftime (8-4) and opened the second half with three straight goals over the first seven minutes to move out to an 11-4 lead.

MacDonald, last year's LEC co-Rookie-of-the-Year, posted a career-high with six points and also tied her career high with seven ground balls. Including the LEC semifinal win over Massachusetts Dartmouth, MacDonald had four goals, four assists and 11 ground balls, won 11 draws, and caused four turnovers.

With a team-high four goals, senior attack Lily Anderson (Portland, ME) cracked the 50-goal barrier for the season as she upped her season-leading total to 52 goals. Anderson, who is ranked fifth all-time with 139 career goals, had four goals in each tournament win. First-year sophomore transfer attack Brooke Wayte (Bellport, NY) and freshman midfielder Ashley Del Vecchio (Fairfield) came off the bench to add three goals – equaling her season-high that she set in the semifinal win Thursday. Eastern senior captain Megan Gloster (Agawam, MA) led all players in the game by winning six draws

Senior goalie Katie Quartuccio (Poughkeepsie, NY) made 12 saves for Southern Maine, six of them coming on Eastern's free-position attempts. Sophomore midfielder Erica Robertson (St. Albans, VT) won four draws for Southern Maine while junior defender Alison Bradley (Auckland, New Zealand) won four ground balls.

Southern Maine (8-9)   4   6  --  10
Eastern Conn. (11-6)   8   9  --  17

Goals:
S-Justine Door 3, Mary Vaughan 3, Jessica Knight 2, Caitlin Albert, Kristy Kendrick.
E-Lily Anderson 4, Brooke Wayte 3, Taylor MacDonald 3, Ashley Del Vecchio 3, Jessica Scheno 2, Megan Gloster, Sara Barrett.

Assists:
S-Albert 3, Kendrick.
E-MacDonald 3, Gloster 2, Wayte.

Shots: S-28, E-39.
Saves: Katie Quartuccio 12, E-Joslin Wells 10.

2008-05-03