NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's lacrosse team fell short to host United States Coast Guard Academy, 14-9, in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference action at Cadet Memorial Field in New London, Conn.
 
The Lyons fall to 7-5 overall and 2-2 in conference play, while the Bears improve to 8-3 and a perfect 4-0 in the NEWMAC.
 
Wheaton went 3 for 6 in free position opportunities while getting outshot 33 to 27 on the day. The Bears narrowly edged Wheaton in draw controls 14-13. A scoreless first quarter put the Lyons behind but a late surge in the fourth  quarter cut the Bears' lead to three before Coast Guard scored the final two goals of the contest.
 
The senior duo of Brooke Harvey (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) and Jessie Kilburn (North Branford, Conn.) each tallied four points with three goals and an assist. Harvey added two draw controls while Kilburn added two ground balls and three draw controls. Sophomore attacker Sophie Gromala (Killingworth, Conn.) scored a goal of her own while dishing out three assists on the day. Junior attacker Avonlea LeBeau (North Branford, Conn.) netted two goals and picked up a pair of ground balls. Sophomore defender Talia Banglmaier (Kennebunk, Maine) registered one ground ball wtih one caused turnover. Senior goalie Emily Oundjian (Longmeadow, Mass.) made 12 saves, including her 200th career stop with 31 seconds left in the third quarter on a free position opportunity. She now has 203 saves for her career.
 
Senior midfielder Gianna Cascio (Hunterdon County, N.J.) and attacker Brenda Anderson (Naperville, Ill.) each scored four goals to propel the Bears to victory. Cascio added three assists with three caused turnovers and two ground balls. Anderson added two assists for a total of six points on the day. Junior goalie Devon McCue (Annapolis, Md.) made eight saves on 17 shots.
 
The United States Coast Guard Academy jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first quarter and did not relinquish its advantage for the remainder of the match.
 
The Bears scored early in the match at the 14:12 mark to take the lead on a marker from Anderson. They doubled the lead later in the quarter with a player advantage on a goal-scoring strike from Cascio off of a free position shot. Wheaton responded with an early score in the second quarter from LeBeau with an assist from Gromala. After giving up back-to-back goals from Anderson and Sarah Skurat (Marlboro, N.J.), Harvey closed the deficit with a free-position goal for the Lyons. After Cascio's second goal of the game, Kilburn scored with 48 seconds left in the half making it 5-3 in favor of the Bears at intermission.
 
Coast Guard came out firing in the third quarter with four straight goals with Anderson accounting for two. Followign a LeBeau marker on an assist from Kilburn, the Lyons made it 9-4 before the Bears scored twice more in the final minutes of the third quarter.
 
The Lyons made a late push to start the fourth quarter scoring five of the next six goals. Kilburn got the Lyons rolling with an assist from Harvey before Cascio answered. Harvey then scored two of the next three goals for the Lyons. Gromala scored Wheaton's final goal at the 3:38 mark. Shannon Schmidt (Jamesport N.Y.) scored two late goals for the Bears en-route to victory.
 
The Lyons head to Babson Park, Mass. for a NEWMAC matchup against rival Babson College at 4:00 p.m. on April 12, while Coast Guard returns to action on the same day, traveling to Cambridge, Mass to take
on Massachusetts Institute of Technology.