WESTFIELD, Mass. -- The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's lacrosse team was defeated by host Westfield State University, 13-3, this evening at Alumni Field in Westfield, Mass. The Lyons fall to 8-3 on the season, while the Owls improve to 5-5.

Westfield State controlled possession, outshooting Wheaton, 34-23, while owning a 31-21 margin on ground balls. The Owls had little trouble bringing the ball into their offensive zone, converting 25 of 27 clear attempts. 

Senior midfielder Darien Webb (Hamden, Conn.) netted a pair of goals and added a pair of ground balls for the Lyons, while sophomore attacker Abigail Mountain (Niantic, Conn.) scored a goal on her only shot of the night. Junior midfielder Brooke Harvey (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) registered an assist, two ground balls and a caused turnover and senior middie Adeline Paradis (Saco, Maine) picked up three ground balls and caused a turnover. Junior goalie Emily Oundjian (Longmeadow, Mass.) made a career-high 15 saves for Wheaton.

Junior Emma Cretella (Cheshire, Conn.) and sophomores Natalie DeMaio (Westwood, Mass.) and Kiely Hafensteiner (Niskayuna, N.Y.) all recorded hat tricks to pace the offense for Westfield State. Junior attacker Cassidy Harvey (Niskayuna, N.Y.) added a pair of goals and picked up two ground balls, while sophomore defender Victoria Paine (Dudley, Mass.) led the defense with three caused turnovers to go with four ground balls. Sophomore goalie Kara Banagan (Niskayuna, N.Y.) stopped six of seven shots in the first half, before yielding to first year Sydney Smith (Dalton, Mass.), who turned away five of seven shots in the second stanza.

The teams traded goals in the first quarter with Cretella putting the Owls on the board at the 10:30 mark, before Mountain responded 62 seconds later to tie the game at 1-1 for the Lyons. 

Westfield State scored the final four goals of the opening quarter and the only two markers of the second quarter to take a 7-1 lead into the intermission. Hafensteiner and DeMaio each scored twice during the stretch, before Cretella found the back of the net for her second tally and first score of the third quarter to give the Owls an 8-1 advantage with 13:54 to go in the quarter. Webb stopped the run for Wheaton with a goal coming at the 12:31 mark of the quarter to cut the deficit to 8-2. 

Westfield State continued its offensive pressure, scoring four times with a different scorer for each marker, including a goal from first year midfielder Hannah Collins (Niskayuna, N.Y.) with just 30 ticks left in the third quarter to give the home team a 12-2 cushion before the start of the fourth period. 

Webb broke just over six minutes of scoreless play to open the quarter with her 26th goal of the season at 8:59 to cut the margin to 12-3. It was the only goal of the quarter for the Lyons. The Owls managed just one score in the quarter as well, with Cretella netting her third of the night and team-leading 25th of the year with 2:22 showing on the fourth quarter clock.

Wheaton returns to action on Saturday, April 9 when it hosts New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference foe United States Coast Guard Academy at 1:00 p.m. on Nordin Field, while Westfield State heads to Salem, Mass. for a 1:00 p.m. tilt with Salem State University on the same day.