MANSFIELD, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University women's lacrosse team scored 11 first-half goals on its first shot after winning a draw and went on to a 23-2 Little East conference victory over the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Saturday afternoon at Rick McCarthy Field.

Eastern (8-4, 2-3 LEC) snaps a three-game losing streak – all in the conference – in downing UMass (0-5, 0-4 LEC) for the second time this year and for the 26^th time in this 30-game series dating back to 1998.

In rolling up a 15-goal halftime lead, the Warriors connected on 17 of their 30 shots and won 14 of 19 draws and turned the ball over only six times.
Sophomore midfielder Mackenzie Shrewsbury (Sprague) won seven of her career-high eight draws in the first half, with sophomore midfielder Caroline Stent (Weatogue) winning four and senior midfielder Tristan Kijak (Windsor) three.

Ten players contributed a goal or assist for Eastern in the game. Stent converted five of her six shots into goals and also had two assists and five draws; Kijak had four goals, won five draws, caused five turnovers and won four ground  balls; junior midfielder Cassie Bennett (Milford) connected on four of her six shots; and sophomore attack Chloe Miller (Avon) was 3-for-3 on shots and added an assist; and senior defender Alexa Jacobson (Marlborough) was credited with her first career assist when she set up sophomore midfielder Payton Shannon's (Vernon) goal with nine minutes left that rounded out the scoring.

Sophomore goalie Nicole Gaston (West Haven) shut out the Corsairs over the final 30 minutes in relief of sophomore starter Sarah Gallagher (South Windsor), making four saves. Gallagher is now 6-3 after making two saves and defeating UMD for the second time this year.

Entering the game as the program's first 40-goal scorer in six years, Stent improved her team-leading totals to 45 goals and 58 points; Kijak set a personal season record with 32 goals – one more than her 2018 LEC Rookie-of-the-Year total; with three goals, sophomore attack Shay Ventresca (Oakdale) eclipsed the 20-goal mark, with 21; Miller moved to within one of 30 this year, as did sophomore attack Jessie Pyrek-Bennett (Monroe), who chipped in a goal and assist. Senior attack Sydney Hogan (Northford), the active career and 2021 season leader in assists, added three more to her total -- exceeding her season total of the last two years combined -- and move into sole possession of tenth place all-time, with 45.

With four ground balls, Kijak moved into the all-time Top 15 with 159 in her career. She also moved into 15^th place all-time with 107 goals and into a tie for 20^th with 132 career points. She is also seventh all-time with 152 draw controls.

Eastern visits Rhode Island College Tuesday at 4 p.m. in a conference game.