SOUTH HADLEY, MA- The sixth-seeded Wheaton College women's lacrosse team saw its season come to a close in the opening round of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament on Wednesday, as the visiting Lyons suffered a 15-6 setback to third seed Mount Holyoke College.

Wheaton, which had won the previous 15 meetings between the programs, dropped its fourth straight game to finish the year at 5-11, while Mount Holyoke avenged its regular season loss to the Lyons while improving to 10-5.

Junior Tess Meyer (Concord, NH/Concord) and sophomore Hailey Colburn (Concord, NH/Concord) notched two goals each for the visitors.  Junior goalie Marianna Marcellino (Milton, MA/Thayer Academy) started the game and posted one save in nearly 25 minutes, while freshman Stephanie Hoomis (Duxbury, MA/Duxbury) had 11 stops in the loss.

Mount Holyoke senior Peggy Wefald (Granger, IN/Penn) found the back of the net seven times, and classmate Perry Markell (Portsmouth, RI/Portsmouth Abbey School) recorded a hat trick and picked up 14 draws.  Junior Clara Raugei (Alpharetta, GA/Wesleyan School) added three goals, while senior goalie Jessica Brezicha (Olympia, WA/Olympia) earned the win in relief after turning aside four shots in close to 54 minutes.

Wheaton rattled off three quick tallies in the first 3:57 but only scored three more the rest of the way, as Mount Holyoke limited the Lyons to a single goal over the last 44:29 of the game.  Freshman Kristen Palmer (East Dorset, VT/Burr and Burton Academy) struck first with 27:52 left in the opening half before Colburn broke through with two tallies 1:01 apart.

The hosts countered with a 4-0 spurt during 2:02 to secure their first advantage of the game.  After Meyer knotted the score at four at 22:06, Mount Holyoke scored twice during a 34-second span and took the lead for good.  The Lyons crept to within 6-5 midway through the frame, but the hosts used a half-ending 3-0 run for a 9-5 cushion at the intermission.

Similar to the opening stanza, Wheaton struck first in the second half, as Meyer made it 9-6 at the 25:54 mark.  However, Mount Holyoke responded with six unanswered goals to complete the scoring.