Lyons grab first win over Pride since 2007

NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College women's lacrosse team erased a 7-3 deficit in the second half with eight unanswered goals to rally past Springfield College, 11-7, on Saturday afternoon at Keefe Field in New England Women's and Men's Lacrosse (NEWMAC) action. The Lyons earned their first win over the Pride since a 10-9 overtime triumph on March 31, 2007 at home.

Sophomore Melanie Sharick (Amherst, Mass./Amherst) and junior Charlotte De Santis (Darien, Conn./Cushing Academy) tied for the game-high in goals with three apiece. Senior Amy Moreira (Bristol, R.I./Mount Hope) added two markers and three draw controls. Moreira now ranks third all-time in program history with 128 draw controls surpassing Alexa Jurczak '08 who compiled 126 during her career at Wheaton.

Junior Leila Mills (Brunswick, Maine/Brunswick) added two tallies while freshman Mia Cambi (Longmeadow, Mass./Longmeadow) registered one goal and two assists.

Springfield freshman Connie Nielsen (Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) and sophomore Michelle Dorsey (Wilbraham, Mass./Minnechaug) potted markers apiece. Juniors Kerstin Lindrooth (Bryn Athyn, Pa./Academy of the New Church), Emily Fowler (Branford, Conn./Branford) and Kelly Gallo (Westfield, Mass./Westfield) all chipped in with one goal.

Down 7-3 with 16:20 remaining in the second half, Cambi sparked the offense as the freshman defender factored into three of the Lyons next four goals. Cambi ripped a feed from De Santis into the back of the net at 14:42 to cut into the deficit at 7-4 and Mills followed with an unassisted tally moments later at 14:09.

Cambi then orchestrated back-to-back markers to even the score at 7-7. Cambi, positioned behind the cage on both goals, led Sharick into a wide open scoring area on both occasions with two passes away from the defense for easy scores. Moreira gave Wheaton the lead for good at the 11:16 mark with her tenth goal of the season on a nice set up from freshman Brooke Sabol (Landgrove, Vt./Burr & Burton Academy). Sharick pushed the advantage to 9-7 at 6:08, De Santis added an insurance goal at 3:23 and Moreira sealed the victory with the final tally of the game at 1:03.

Lyons' sophomore goalkeeper Katy Ananian (Belmont, Mass./Belmont) turned aside a game-high 11 shots to push her record to 4-2 on the season. Junior Anne Versprille (Franklin, Mass./Franklin) made ten saves for the Pride.

Wheaton won the draw controls matchup, 14-6, and outworked Springfield defensively in ground balls (23-22) and clear attempts (15-for-18/13-for-17).

The Lyons (4-3, 2-0 NEWMAC) hosts Gordon College on Thursday, April 4 for a non-conference matchup at 4 p.m. The Pride (5-5, 0-2 NEWMAC) welcome Babson College to Stagg Field for a NEWMAC tilt on Saturday, April 6 at noon.