Franca Nets 100th Career Goal to Power Women's Lacrosse Over USJ, 15-7

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Senior midfielder Chandra Franca (Woburn, Mass.) scored a career-high seven goals including the 100th of her collegiate career to power Emmanuel College past the University of Saints Joseph (CT), 15-7, Tuesday evening in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action on the USJ Lacrosse Field. With the loss, the Blue Jays dip to 5-9 overall on the season and 3-7 in conference play, while EC improves to 7-5 overall including 7-3 in the league.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: Emmanuel 15, Saint Joseph 7
Records: EC 7-5 (7-3 GNAC), USJ 5-9 (3-7 GNAC)
Location: USJ Lacrosse Field | West Hartford, Conn.

Franca becomes the fourth player in program history to reach the 100-goal milestone and the first since Emily Baker '17 in 2017. EC junior Ali Bergin (Newbury, Mass.) put together her best offensive game of the campaign with four goals and one assist while junior Megan Steele (Auburn, Maine) and first year Deja Srimouksavanh (Portsmouth, N.H.) both chipped in with two goals. USJ junior Makenzie Dinger (Hingham, Mass.) and sophomore midfielder Ana Nogueira (Trumbull, Conn.) scored three goals each for Saint Joseph to lead the way. Freshman attack Maya Tomko (Sparta, N.J.) added the seventh goal, just her second of her career. 

Emmanuel controlled the pace early on, scoring five of the game's first six goals. Three came from Franca in the opening quarter, including the first two. The Blue Jays responded though by outscoring the Saints in the second stanza, 4-2. The trio of Blue Jays each found their touch – slicing and scoring at will to tip the tide in favor of the hosts. USJ was in this one, down 7-5 at the break.

The pace was played to USJ's favor, as the defense forced two shot clock violations in total and forced Emmanuel to make a plethora of passes. The Saints are one of the best in the GNAC at skipping the rock around; they did so from right to left and everywhere in between, ultimately finding openings albeit late in a possession. The visitors scored three critical goals (from three different players), and most importantly, held USJ scoreless. It was enough to pull away in the fourth quarter as Saint Joseph could not overcome the odds in this one.

GOALIE BREAKDOWN

EC – Senior goalkeeper Emma Crowley (Peterborough, N.H.) improved to 7-5 overall with a complete game in the cage, allowing seven goals and making four saves in total.

USJ – Senior goalkeeper and captain Nina Lestrud (Torrington, Conn.) dipped to 5-9 on the season with a nine save, 54-minute performance, allowing 13 goals. Senior stopper Silvana Barcomb (Middletown, Conn.) played the final five-plus minutes for USJ and allowed two goals with three saves.

UP NEXT
Emmanuel heads to Dean College for a 10:00 AM GNAC contest on Saturday, April 16th while USJ will hit the road for a visit north to the Raiders of Rivier University in Nashua, N.H. The action takes place on Saturday, April 16 at 1:00 PM.

*Portions of this release courtesy of USJ Athletic Communications