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Smithfield, RI – The Wagner women's lacrosse team fell behind by an early 4-0 count and trailed 7-1 before scoring three of the last four goals during the last 11:30 of the game, but it was not enough as Bryant secured the No. 1 seed, and hosting rights, for the 2015 Northeast Conference (NEC) Championships with an 8-4 win this afternoon.
 
In a battle of teams who entered the game with perfect 5-0 conference marks, the Bulldogs will host the NEC semifinals on May 1 and the May 3 title game. Bryant is now 6-0 in conference play and 12-3 overall while the Seahawks, who have earned a berth in their second straight NEC playoff, fall to 5-1 in league and 8-8 overall.
 
Wagner will conclude its regular season slate on Sunday, April 26 with a 1:00 p.m. road contest vs. Central Connecticut, while the Bulldogs, who knocked off Wagner in the 2014 NEC Championship game, close out their regular season on Sunday at home vs. Mount St. Mary's.
 
Lauren Descalzo score two of Bryant's goals during the Bulldogs' early 4-0 surge, with the other pair coming from Emily Columbus and Shannon Sullivan, the latter on a free-position shot which capped the run at the 18:38 mark of the first half.
 
Wagner scored its first goal of the game on unassisted tally by junior midfielder Gretchen Fay (Spring Lake Heights, NJ/Manasquan) with 11:46 remaining in the opening stanza to make it a 4-1 game. That's the way the score remaining until Nicole Britton sank a breakaway goal off a feed from Descalzo with just 3.2 seconds left on the first-half clock, providing the Bulldogs with a 5-1 lead and momentum heading into intermission.
 
Bryant then notched the first two goals of the second half, on scores by Columbus at 27:01, that made it 6-1, and another by Skylar Zlotnick off of a Meghan Brennan assist at the 20:01 mark which widened the Bulldog lead to 7-1.
 
Sophomore attack Olivia Streilein (Vernon, NJ/Vernon Township), who scored the game-winner in the second overtime, lifting Wagner to a 9-8 win over Sacred Heart on Sunday, then keyed a game-ending 3-1 run with two goals. Junior attack Taylor Pastore (Baldwinsville, NY/C.W. Baker) recorded the final goal of the game, with 1:07 left, in fashioning the final score at 8-4.
 
Streilein's two goals paced Wagner offensively while Fay and Pastore finished with one goal apiece with the Seahawks' fifth point of the contest coming on an assist by freshman midfielder Lauren Ednie (Verona, NJ/Verona). Descalzo led Bryant with four points on three goals and an assist, Columbus added two goals while Zlotnick, Sullivan and Nicole Britton chipped in with one goal apiece.
 
Bryant out-shot Wagner 26-21 and held a slight 8-6 edge in draw controls while the Seahawks led in ground balls, 21-19. The Green & White, who entered the game No. 1 nationally in caused turnovers game, helped force the Bulldogs into committing 19 turnovers but were hurt by turning it over a 24 times themselves.

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