BRIGHTON, Mass. – Sophomore goalie Katie Geis (Duxbury, Mass.) registered a career-high 13 saves and senior midfielder Avonlea LeBeau (North Branford, Conn.) tallied a game-high five points, including four goals, to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) women's lacrosse team to a 15-3 victory over host Simmons University this afternoon at Daly Field in Brighton, Mass.
The Lyons improve to 2-2 on the season, while the Sharks fall to 2-2.
Wheaton's defense allowed just one goal in the final 50:40 of play and shut out Simmons in the second half. The Lyons doubled up on the Sharks in shots with a 36-18 advantage, while dominating the draw by a count of 17-5. Wheaton also took advantage of nine free position opportunities with five scores.
LeBeau added six draw controls, five ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers for the Lyons, while senior attacker Abigail Mountain (Niantic, Conn.) collected three points with a pair of goals and an assist. Junior attacker Lara Finnie (Westfield, Mass.) and sophomore attacker Riley Kilbourn (Madison, Conn.) each netted two goals for Wheaton. Kilbourn also picked up a ground ball. Junior midfielder Gabs Smart (Oakland, Maine) contributed with a goal, a career-high five draw controls and a ground ball.
Junior defender Frida Turriza (Windham, N.H.) led Simmons with a goal, four caused turnovers, a draw control and four ground balls and graduate student midfielder Riley Wasiuk (Rutland, Mass.) netted a goal, picked up four ground balls, won a pair of draws and caused a turnover. Senior attacker Julia Chausse (East Freetown, Mass.) scored a goal as well for the home team. First year goalie Anya Younie (Weymouth, Mass.) stopped 13 shots for the Sharks.
Turriza and Wasiuk scored goals within 2:34 of each other to give Simmons a 2-0 lead with 9:20 to play in the opening quarter. The Lyons erupted for three goals in less than two minutes from senior midfielder Logan Truluck (Bath, Maine), LeBeau and sophomore midfielder Sara Spielman (Norwalk, Conn.) to give Wheaton the lead for good at 3-2 with 4:54 showing on the first quarter clock.
The Lyons tacked on four more unanswered goals, including two more from LeBeau and single markers from Kilbourn and first year attacker Georgia Qua (Suffield, Conn.) to take a 7-2 advantage, while holding the Sharks without a goal over a stretch of 24:17. Chausse broke the scoring drought for the home team with an advantage marker coming with just three ticks left in the first half to cut the margin to 7-3. It was the final goal of the game for Simmons.
Wheaton scored four times each in the third and fourth quarters. Finnie and Mountain both scored a goal in each of the remaining periods, while sophomore attacker Natalie Bilodeau (Scarborough, Maine) and junior midfielder Gabs Smart (Oakland, Maine) each tallied their first respective goals of the season in the third quarter for the Lyons.
Wheaton returns to action on Monday, March 11 when it takes on Muhlenberg College at 10:00 a.m. in Hilton Head, S.C., while the Sharks travel to Worcester, Mass. on March 6 to play Worcester State University at 4:00 p.m.
