SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- Junior defender Erin Ortega (Merrimack, N.H.) tallied a career-high five points, including four goals to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) women's lacrosse team over host Mount Holyoke College, 18-4, this afternoon in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference action at the MHC Turf Field in South Hadley, Mass. The Lyons improve to 9-5 overall and 4-2 in league play, while the MHC Lyons fall to 1-9 and 0-6.

Wheaton dominated offensive possession, owning a 35-10 shot advantage, while the defense held MHC scoreless in the second quarter. Mount Holyoke managed to convert just 13 of 33 clearing attempts, in contrast to Wheaton's 20-25 effort.

Ortega won a pair of draw controls and caused a turnover for the Lyons, while senior midfielder Darien Webb (Hamden, Conn.) totaled four points, including a pair of goals to go with six draw controls, three ground balls and a caused turnover. First year attacker Lara Finnie (Westfield, Mass.) netted three goals, picked up three ground balls, won a pair of draw controls and caused a turnover. Sophomore attackers Abigail Mountain (Niantic, Conn.) and Avonlea LeBeau (North Branford, Conn.) each scored twice and added an assist. Mountain also came up with four ground balls and LeBeau recorded three ground balls, four draw controls and a pair of caused turnovers. Senior defender Mia Murray (Kennebunk, Maine) totaled six ground balls and five caused turnovers. Junior Emily Oundjian (Longmeadow, Mass.) stopped two of three shots in the first half, before yielding to classmate Emily Kelly (Norwell, Mass.), who turned away one of four shots in the second stanza.

Senior attacker Allie Brown (Burlington, Vt.) led MHC with a pair of goals on three shots to go with a game-high seven draw controls and a ground ball. Senior attacker Emma Legacki (Pennington, N.J.) netted a goal in addition to collecting two draw controls, two caused turnovers and a ground ball, while senior goalie Emma Bowler (West Springfield, Mass.) made 12 saves, picked up eight ground balls and caused a turnover. 

Sophomore attacker Hannah Bisson (South Hadley, Mass.) netted the first goal of the game to give the home team a 1-0 edge with 10:43 left in the first quarter. Mount Holyoke didn't score again for the next 38:22, while Wheaton scored 10 unanswered goals, including two each from LeBeau, Webb, Mountain and Ortega to take a 10-1 advantage with 2:51 to go in the third quarter. 

Brown scored Mount Holyoke's second marker of the day on a feed from first year defender Ella Phillips (Sandwich, Mass.) to cut the deficit to 10-2 with 2:21 showing in the third quarter. Wheaton closed out the quarter with a pair of goals and carried the momentum into the fourth quarter, netting the first three goals of the final period to take a 15-2 cushion with 8:47 to go. First years Megan Cuddy (Natick, Mass.) and Kendall Conwell (Weston, Fla.) each notched their respective first collegiate goals during the stretch for Wheaton.

MHC put together back-to-back scores with Legacki and Brown both finding the back of the net within 79 seconds of each other to make it 15-4. Wheaton scored the final three markers of the match, including the first career goal from first year attacker Alex Doldo (Bedford, N.H.).

Wheaton returns to play on Wednesday, April 20 when it heads to Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a 6:00 p.m. NEWMAC match, while Mount Holyoke hosts league rival United States Coast Guard Academy on the same day at the same time.