NORTON, Mass. – Senior midfielder Avonlea LeBeau (North Branford, Conn.) netted her 100th career goal and junior attacker Lara Finnie (Westfield, Mass.) notched her 100th career point for the Wheaton College (Mass.) women's lacrosse team, but Worcester State University scored with 1:45 left in overtime to come away with a 14-13 win this afternoon at Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons dip to 1-1 on the season after their first home contest, while the match was the season opener for the Lancers, who improve to 1-0.
Wheaton held advantages in shots (34-23), draw controls (18-12) and ground balls (23-16), while also turning the ball over nine fewer times than its guests (23-14). Neither team led by more than two goals in the game with Worcester State leading by no more than just one goal throughout the afternoon that saw five lead changes and nine ties.
LeBeau netted four goals to give her 103 in her career for the Lyons in addition to collecting a career-high 13 draw controls and a ground ball. Finnie tallied six points to bump her lifetime total to 102, including a pair of goals. Sophomore attacker Riley Kilbourn (Madison, Conn.), senior midfielder Logan Truluck (Bath, Maine) and junior middie Sophie Gromala (Killingworth, Conn.) all recorded a goal and an assist each. Senior defender Ailise Cannon (Kensington, N.H.) led the Lyon defense with six ground balls and three caused turnovers. First year goalie Katie Geis (Duxbury, Mass.) stopped four of 16 shots in 60:36 of action for Wheaton, while first year Makenna Gilman (Middletown, R.I.) yielded a pair of goals in a 3:39 stint.
Sophomore midfielder McKayla Fisher (Peabody, Mass.) scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner, to go with a pair of draw controls and two ground balls for Worcester State, while junior attacker Hannah Erickson (Dunstable, Mass.) tallied a trio of markers and added an assist, a ground ball and a draw control. First year Meghan Bowen (Westfield, Mass.), graduate student Shea Jarvis (Auburn, Mass.) and first year Madigan Kelley (Bourne, Mass.) all registered three points, including two goals each. First year keeper Jordyn Bolduc (Auburn, Mass.) stopped 10 shots to earn the victory in her collegiate debut.
Finnie netted the final goal of the day for Wheaton to give the home team a 13-12 edge with 4:55 to play in the fourth quarter. Kelley knotted the game at 13-13 for the Lancers with a score coming with just 71 seconds left in the final quarter of regulation to effectively send the game into overtime. Fisher scored the winning goal on a free position shot.
Junior midfielder Kilee Sherry (Gorham, Maine) and sophomore midfielder Sara Spielman (Norwalk, Conn.) alternated goals with Jarvis and Erickson to tie the game at 2-2, before Kelley gave Worcester State its first edge at 3-2 with 1:03 to play in the opening quarter.
Senior attacker Abigail Mountain (Niantic, Conn.) re-tied the game at 3-3 for the Lyons with 12:56 showing in the second quarter, but Bowen found the back of the net for her first collegiate goal just 29 seconds later to reclaim the lead for the visitors.
Wheaton took advantage of a pair of player-up goals from Gromala and LeBeau to give the Lyons a 6-5 edge with 2:07 to play in the second quarter, before Bowen notched a goal with 99 seconds left in the opening half to send both teams into the intermission with an even count of six goals apiece.
LeBeau and Kilbourn scored the first two goals of the third quarter to give Wheaton the biggest lead of the game at 8-6 with 10:59 remaining in the quarter. Finnie scored at the 7:23 mark of the quarter to keep the home team's margin at two goals, but sophomore midfielder Abigail Vincent (Lakeville, Mass.) and Erickson each scored to pull the Lancers even at 9-9 with 1:53 showing on the third quarter clock. LeBeau and Truluck made the most of the remaining time in the quarter with a goal each, including the marker from Truluck with 26.4 seconds left in the period to give the Lyons an 11-9 lead heading into the fourth quarter of play.
Fisher took advantage of Wheaton being down a player due to penalty by scoring just 39 seconds into the quarter, before Erickson followed with a marker coming at 13:14 and Jarvis scoring to give Worcester State three unanswered goals in a span of 3:02 to take a 12-11 lead with 11:19 to go in the quarter.
LeBeau tied it at 6:10, before Finnie tallied the final Lyon goal.
The Lancers return to play on February 28 when they head to Lewiston, Maine to take on Bates College at 5:00 p.m., while Wheaton hosts Roger Williams University on the same day at 7:00 p.m. on Nordin Field.
