NORTON, Mass. -- Sophomore attacker Lara Finnie (Westfield, Mass.) matched her career-high with five goals and added an assist to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) women's lacrosse team over visiting Salve Regina University, 15-7, this afternoon on Nordin Field in Norton, Mass. 

The Lyons improve to 2-0 on the season, while the Seahawks fall to 0-2.

Wheaton owned a decided 39-21 shot advantage and converted 11 of 12 clear attempts, while forcing Salve Regina into 13 turnovers and held them to a 14-23 clear rate.

Finnie added a ground ball for the Lyons, while junior attacker Avonlea LeBeau (North Branford, Conn.) tallied four points with three goals and an assist in addition to nine draw controls and a caused turnover. Sophomore attacker Sophie Gromala (Killingworth, Conn.) scored a pair of goals to go with two assists and senior attacker Brooke Harvey (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) netted a pair of goals and added four draw controls, two caused turnovers and a ground ball. Senior defender Maggie Ryan (Freeport, Maine) picked up three ground balls and caused a pair of turnovers. Senior goalie Emily Kelly (Norwell, Mass.) made a career-high eight saves for Wheaton.

Senior midfielder Kelly Ventura (Floral Park, N.Y.) led the Seahawks with five points to tie her career high on three goals and a pair of assists in addition to five draw controls, two ground balls and a caused turnover. Sophomore midfielder Emma Periera (Easton, Mass.) recorded two points on a goal and an assist, while sophomore attacker Kayli Garcia (Southington, Conn.) tallied a marker and picked up a ground ball. Sophomore midfielder Cameron Baston (Plantsville, Conn.) contributed with three draw controls and two caused turnovers and junior defender Stephanie Saucier (North Providence, R.I.) caused a pair of turnovers to go with a ground ball. Sophomore goalie Grace Haesche (Warwick, N.Y.) stopped 14 shots for Salve Regina. 

The teams traded goals within a 64-second span early in the opening quarter with junior attacker Logan Truluck (Bath, Maine) scoring her first goal of the season on an assist from Gromala with 10:38 to go in the quarter for the Lyons, before first year attacker Edie Threshie (Stratford, Conn.) scored the equalizer for the Seahawks.

Wheaton closed out the quarter with four unanswered goals, including two from LeBeau, to give the home team a 5-1 lead after one quarter of play.

Ventura and Periera each sandwiched a goal for Salve Regina around a marker from junior attacker Abigail Mountain (Niantic, Conn.) for the Lyons to cut the deficit to 6-3 heading into the intermission.

Finnie and Garcia exchanged goals in a span of 45 seconds early in the third quarter to make it 7-4, before Wheaton scored five straight goals, including a pair from Harvey, to increase the Lyons lead to a comfortable 12-4 after three periods of play.

Wheaton continued its offensive momentum with Finnie scoring a pair of goals to open the fourth quarter and give the Lyons their largest lead of the afternoon at 14-4 with 8:50 remaining in the contest. 

The Seahawks tallied the next three goals for their most prolific scoring binge of the day, behind a marker from sophomore midfielder Stella McCormack (East Hampton, N.Y.) and a pair of scores from Ventura to pull the visitors to within 14-7 with 1:09 to play in the game. 

Finnie capped the day's scoring on a free position shot with just 41 ticks left on the clock to close out the 15-7 victory for Wheaton.

The Lyons return to action on Wednesday, March 1 when they travel to Bristol, R.I. to take on Roger Williams University at 4:00 p.m., while Salve Regina heads to Bridgewater, Mass. on the same day to play Bridgewater State University at 6:00 p.m.