SOUTH HADLEY, MA- The Wheaton College women's lacrosse team blew open a one-goal game by scoring 12 of the final 17 goals on Saturday en route to a 17-9 victory during its New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) opener against Mount Holyoke College. The Blue and White is now 2-3 overall, while the hosts slipped to 4-3.

Wheaton, which has won 15 straight in the series, was paced by junior Tess Meyer's (Concord, NH/Concord) career-high five goals to go along with two assists.

Sophomores Hailey Colburn (Concord, NH/Concord), Katie Powers (Ashburnham, MA/Cushing Academy) and Brittany Whynot (Fountain Hills, AZ/Fountain Hills) each added hat tricks, and classmate Sydney Ferguson (Jamestown, RI/North Kingstown) scored twice. Junior Marianna Marcellino (Milton, MA/Thayer Academy) stopped 16 shots.

Senior Peggy Wefald (Granger, IN/Penn) netted six of Mount Holyoke's nine markers, while sophomore Hilary Bombard (Northampton, MA/Northampton) had two goals and an assist. Classmate Jeanmarie Petersen (Sea Girt, NJ/The Peddie School) made eight stops.

Meyer netted the game's first two goals by the 4:16 mark of the opening half, but Wefald scored all of Mount Holyoke's markers during an ensuing 4-3 run by the hosts that brought them within 5-4 at 12:43. However, Colburn countered 1:36 later, and Whynot scored twice in the final 8:53 of the stanza to give the Blue and White an 8-4 advantage at the half.

After the hosts pulled within 9-6 on a Bombard tally at 23:24 of the second period, Powers scored twice during a 3-0 Wheaton run. The visitors netted five of the game's final six goals to ice the game, turning a 12-8 contest into an eight-goal victory.

Wheaton takes a break from NEWMAC play by heading to local foe Bridgewater State College on Thursday for a 4:00 p.m. contest.