NEW LONDON, Conn. -- The fifth-seeded Wheaton College (Mass.) women's lacrosse team played even for a half and was within a goal after three quarters, but was unable to catch number four seed United States Coast Guard Academy in an 11-9 loss this afternoon in the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference Tournament Quarterfinals at Cadet Memorial Field in New London, Conn. The Lyons finish their season with a 10-8 record, while the Bears improve to 11-6 and advance to the NEWMAC semifinal against top-seeded Springfield College on May 4 at 4:00 p.m. in Springfield, Mass. 

Wheaton did all it could to gain the upset victory, outshooting Coast Guard, 27-19 and owning a 14-9 margin on draw controls, but came up short on the scoreboard.

Senior midfielder Darien Webb (Hamden, Conn.) closed out her career with an outstanding effort for the Lyons, racking up six points on five goals and an assist to go with seven draw controls and three ground balls. She finished the season with a school-record 94 draw controls in 18 games. Junior middie Brooke Harvey (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) tallied three points with two goals and an assist in addition to five draw controls, two ground balls and a caused turnover. Sophomore attacker Abigail Mountain (Niantic, Conn.) and junior Erin Ortega (Merrimack, N.H.) each netted a goal for Wheaton. Senior defender Mia Murray (Kennebunk, Maine) picked up three ground balls in her final match. Junior goalie Emily Oundjian (Longmeadow, Mass.) stopped four shots for the Lyons.

Junior attacker Gianna Cascio (Hunterdon County, N.J.) led the Bears with six points on three goals and three assists to go with two ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers. Junior midfielder Shannon Schmidt (Jamesport, N.Y.) netted a pair of goals, assisted on another and added a ground ball, while senior defender Katherine DeHart (Chapel Hill, N.C.) registered four ground balls, a draw control and two caused turnovers. First year goalie Maici Mintchwarner (Cream Ridge, N.J.) was outstanding in net for Coast Guard, turning away a career-high 14 shots.

Ortega scored with just four ticks left in the second quarter in a player advantage situation to pull Wheaton even at 5-5 before the intermission. Schmidt scored the first marker of the third quarter at the 12:54 mark, before Cascio gave the home team a 7-5 lead with 4:50 to go in the quarter. Sophomore attacker Avonlea LeBeau (North Branford, Conn.) connected with Webb with exactly one minute left in the third quarter for the Lyons to cut the deficit to 7-6 before the start of the final quarter of play.

The Bears scored three unanswered goals to open the fourth quarter and take their largest lead of the game at 10-6 with 7:38 showing  on the clock. Schmidt scored at 10:16 and first years Katharine Rott (Severna Park, Md.) and Caitlyn Coates (Hanover, Pa.) each followed with a goal apiece over the next three minutes.

Mountain scored on a feed from Webb with 6:10 remaining in the game and Harvey converted a free position shot just 58 seconds later to reduce the margin to 10-8 for Wheaton with 5:12 left in the match. Bass took a pass from Cascio in a player-up situation and scored at the 3:11 mark for an 11-8 lead, before Harvey found Webb for her team-leading 43rd goal of the season to make it 11-9 for the Lyons with 92 seconds to play, but it was the last goal for either team.

The teams traded goals through the first six combined markers of the match. Webb converted a feed from LeBeau to put Wheaton on the board with 6:56 left in the opening quarter. It was the only goal of the quarter until the teams combined for three goals in the final 86 seconds of the period. Sophomore midfielder Addy Bass (Redondo Beach, Calif.) scored with 1:26 left in the opening quarter, before Harvey regained the lead for the Lyons just 32 seconds later. Rott scored 27 seconds after that for the home team to knot the game again before the end of the period. 

Webb scored at 11:13 of the second quarter on a free position shot, but Coates matched her at 7:18 to keep the score tied at 3-3. Cascio tallied the next two scores for Coast Guard to give the higher seed its first lead of the day at 5-3 with 2:34 to go in the half. Webb scored with 23 seconds left in the quarter before Ortega's strike came just 19 seconds later.