NORTON, Mass. -- First year midfielder Lara Finnie (Westfield, Mass.) scored five goals and senior middie Darien Webb (Hamden, Conn.) tallied a game-high six points to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) women's lacrosse team over visiting Worcester State University, 15-9, this evening at Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass. The Lyons improve to 7-2 on the season, while the Lancers fall to 4-5.

Wheaton held a decisive 36-21 shot advantage and outscored its guests, 6-0, in the third quarter, to effectively put the game away for good. The Lyons controlled possession, making good on 22 of 24 clear attempts, while forcing Worcester State into 29 turnovers. The home team also took advantage of its free position opportunities, converting 5-11 unfettered tries.

Finnie added a ground ball and  three caused turnovers to her day, while Webb scored four goals, assisted two others and picked up eight draw controls to go with three ground balls for Wheaton. Sophomore Avonlea LeBeau (North Branford, Conn.) scored four times and is tied with Finnie for the team lead with 24 goals. She also added two ground balls and a pair of draw controls and junior midfielder Brooke Harvey (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) registered six draw controls, six ground balls, three caused turnovers and scored a goal. Senior defender Mia Murray (Kennebunk, Maine) caused a career and game-high seven turnovers and came up with five ground balls. Junior goalie Emily Oundjian (Longmeadow, Mass.) stopped four of nine shots in 27:18 of action, while classmate Emily Kelly (Norwell, Mass.) turned away six of 10 shots on net.

Junior attacker Emily Pavoni (Granby, Mass.) led the Lancers with four goals on seven shots and first year attacker Hannah Erickson (Dunstable, Mass.) tallied three markers to go with six draw controls and a caused turnover. Junior midfielder Lily Gendron (Lakeville, Mass.) contributed with a goal, two assists, five ground balls, two draw controls and three caused turnovers, while senior midfielder Julia Ravenelle (Barrington, N.H.) picked up five ground balls in addition to a draw control and a pair of caused turnovers.

First year attacker Abigail Wing (Griswold, Conn.) scored an unassisted goal with 7:05 left in the second quarter to pull Worcester State to within 5-4, but the Lyons closed out the quarter with the final two goals as part of an 8-0 run to give them a 14-4 advantage with 13:19 showing in the fourth quarter.  Finnie and LeBeau each scored to end the first half, before Wheaton scored all six goals in the third quarter, including three from Webb and a pair from Finnie. Sophomore attacker Abigail Mountain (Niantic, Conn.) opened the fourth quarter with a goal to give the Lyons a 10-goal cushion. 

The Lancers climbed back to within six scores with four unanswered goals in a span of  just over six-minutes. Gendron and Erickson both scored within 33 seconds of each other, before Pavoni scored two straight markers to cut the deficit to 14-8 with 5:33 showing on the fourth quarter clock for the visitors.

It was as close as Worcester State would get as LeBeau and Erickson traded goals for each team in the final two and a half minutes of play.

The Lancers and the Lyons exchanged two goals each to open the game, including two from Pavoni, to knot the game at 2-2 after the initial quarter. LeBeau opened the second quarter with a score just 70 seconds into the frame, before Erickson countered 66 ticks later to keep it tied at 3-3. Finnie and LeBeau each found the back of the net to give Wheaton a 5-3 margin with 9:56 to go in the quarter. 

The Lyons return to action on Saturday, April 2 when they travel to Northampton, Mass. to take on New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference foe Smith College at 12:00 p.m., while Worcester State hosts Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference play on the same day and time.