NORTON, Mass. -- The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's lacrosse team was nipped in overtime, 13-12, by visiting Smith College this afternoon in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.

The Lyons fall to 7-3 overall and 2-1 in league play, while the Pioneers improve to 5-6 and 2-1.

Wheaton had 15 free position opportunities, but could only capitalize on four of them for scores. Smith first year goalie Brooke Testa (Pittstown, N.J.) made 14 saves during the game to keep the Pioneers within striking distance as they erased a three-goal deficit with 10:26 to play in regulation. 

The Lyons dominated the draw during the contest by a count of 20-8, but Smith won the most important draw of the afternoon when first year midfielder Caroline Sanders (Trabuco, Calif.) controlled the draw to begin the overtime and give the visitors the only possession of the period. Following a wide shot from first year attacker Emma Butterick (Windsor, Conn.), sophomore attacker Sadie Tschider (Piedmont, Calif.) collected the ball on the endline with the shot clock winding down and found Sanders in front of the net for the game-winning tally with just two ticks left on the shot clock. 

Senior attacker Jessie Kilburn (North Branford, Conn.) led Wheaton with five goals on seven shots and eight draw controls to go with two ground balls, while junior Avonlea LeBeau (North Branford, Conn.) came alive with three goals (all in the fourth quarter) in addition to an assist, five ground balls, four draw controls and a caused turnover. Senior attacker Brooke Harvey (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) scored a pair of goals and added an assist for her 100th career point in addition to four draw controls, three ground balls and a caused turnover. Sophomore defender Talia Banglmaier (Kennebunk, Maine) registered three caused turnovers and two ground balls for the Lyons. Senior goalie Emily Oundjian (Longmeadow, Mass.) stopped six shots.

Sanders netted five goals and added three ground balls, three caused turnovers and a pair of draw controls to her day, while junior midfielder Jennie Arancio (Smithtown, N.Y.) scored four times on six shots to go with six ground balls, four caused turnovers and a draw control for the Pioneers. Butterick netted a pair of goals and added two ground balls. First year defender Darci DeAngelis (Boise, Idaho) picked up six ground balls and caused a turnover and first year defender Yasmin Grant (Maplewood, N.J.) caused four turnovers, picked up a ground ball and won a draw control. 

Sanders scored with 2:42 left in the third quarter to give Smith an 8-5 lead, before senior Erin Ortega (Merrimack, N.H.) scored with just 66 seconds left in the period to pull Wheaton to within 8-6. The Lyons continued their momentum into the fourth quarter with five unanswered goals in a span of 3:54 to take an 11-8 lead with 10:26 remaining in the period. LeBeau scored just 40 seconds into the quarter, before Finnie scored exactly one minute later on a free-position shot to knot the contest at 8-8. Kilburn took a feed from Harvey to give Wheaton the lead at 11:43 and mark Harvey's milestone point total. LeBeau scored just 30 seconds later and again 39 seconds after that to give the home team a three-goal advantage at 11-8.

The Pioneers regrouped after sustaining a shock to their defense and won the en-suing draw control to lead to a score from Arancio with 9:28 showing on the fourth quarter clock. Butterick converted a free-position shot at 7:17 and Sanders scored with 5:31 to play in the period to pull Smith even at 11-11. Sanders scored again to give the Pioneers four straight goals in less than six minutes and a 12-11 edge with 3:45 to play in regulation.

Kilburn scored on a free-position attempt with 97 seconds left in the quarter for the Lyons to make it a 12-12 game before Sanders won it in the extra period for Smith.

The Pioneers struck first with a goal from Butterick, despite being a player down, with 12:44 to go in the opening quarter. Wheaton scored the next three goals in just over four minutes, including two from Harvey to take a 3-1 lead with 4:38 showing on the first quarter clock. Junior attacker Gia Arancio (Smithtown, N.Y.) converted a pass from senior midfielder Reese Gittelman (Ocean City, Md.) for the final goal of the period at 1:07 to cut the deficit to 3-2 for the Pioneers.

Jennie Arancio netted the first two goals of the second quarter to give Smith a 4-3 lead, before Kilburn found the back of the net with 56 ticks left before the intermission to tie the game at 4-4.

The Pioneers scored four of the first five goals of the third period to take an 8-5 lead. Tschider and Sanders each scored, before Kilburn registered a marker for the home team to pull the Lyons to within one at 6-5 with 6:19 left in the quarter. Jennie Arancio and Sanders each scored within 1:44 of each other to give Smith a three-goal advantage.

Wheaton returns to action on Wednesday, April 5 when it hosts Westfield State University on Nordin Field at 7:00 p.m., while the Pioneers host Massachusetts Institute of Technology in NEWMAC play on April 8 at 12:00 p.m.