NEWTON, MA – Top-seeded Lasell College (14-3, 9-0 GNAC) defeated #4 Saint Joseph's College (11-7, 6-3 GNAC), 21-10, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Women's Lacrosse semifinal contest on Friday afternoon. The Lasers advance to the conference championship for the third-consecutive season with the victory.

Cassie Diplock (Augusta, Maine) paced the Monks' attack with three goals, Mary Leasure (South Portland, Maine/McAuley) and Kat Gadbois (Scarborough, Maine) each netted a pair of scores for Saint Joseph's. Anneka Adame (San Diego, Calif.) chipped in with one goal and one assist, while Krystal Walsh (Springvale, Maine) dished out a pair of assists in the contest. Haley Nason (Saco, Maine) made 10 saves while taking the loss in goal for the Monks.

For Saint Joseph's, the loss signals the end of perhaps the most successful season in the six-year history of the program. The 2013 squad set new program records for victories (11), games played (18), goals (224), assists (73), points (297), shots (519), shots on goal (402), ground balls (595), draw controls (238), caused turnovers (250), free-position goals (33) and saves (172).The Monks graduate just one senior – four-year player and 2013 tri-captain Lauren Bailey (Hampton, N.H./St. Thomas Aquinas) – from this year's team.

Britney Wuorio (Bolton, Mass.) tallied four goals and five assists for Lasell and Ashley Slattery (Weymouth, Mass.) added four goals and four assists in the victory. Rebecca Stanton (Agawam, Mass.) played a great all-around game, scoring five goals while scooping up six groundballs and grabbing nine draw controls, Bridget Doherty (Franklin, Mass.) added four goals and Ashlee Pechulis (Westfield, Mass.) netted a pair of scores for the Lasers. Sammy Long (Staten Island, N.Y.) stopped seven shots while earning the victory in net for Lasell.

Slattery started the scoring for Lasell when she took a feed from Wuorio and found the back of the net 1:49 into the opening half. Lasell quickly went ahead 3-0 on unassisted goals by Stanton and Wuorio with 26:22 left in the first half. Leasure scored to get the Monks on the board, and after a Lasell goal by Pechulis the Monks used a pair of goals from Diplock to cut the margin to 4-3 in favor of Lasell.

The Lasers answered with four straight goals including a pair of scores by Slattery sandwiched between goals by Stanton and Doherty to take an 8-3 lead. A pair of scores by Gadbois bookended a Stanton goal for Lasell to make the score 9-5 with 12:11 on the clock in the first half.

The hosts answered by running off six straight scores to take a 15-5 lead before a Leasure goal with five seconds remaining made it 15-6 at the half.

Lasell put the game away in the early part of the second half, starting the period with four unanswered scores to go on top 19-6. Lizzie Calnan (Westport, Mass.) scored for the Monks with 10:18 remaining to make it 19-7, before Wuorio closed the Lasell scoring with a pair of goals with just over seven minutes to play to take a 21-7 lead. St. Joe's scored three times in the game's final five minutes to make it a 21-10 final.

Lasell will host Simmons in the GNAC Championship game on Sunday April 28th at 1:00 p.m. at Grellier Field, after the Sharks advanced to the final with a 9-8 overtime victory over Norwich University.

THANKS IN LARGE PART TO LASELL COLLEGE SPORTS INFORMATION

Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 350-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.