WESTFIELD, Mass. -- The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's lacrosse team was defeated by host Westfield State University, 16-7, this evening at Alumni Field in Westfield, Mass.

The Lyons slip to 4-4 on the season, while the Owls improve to 4-3.

Wheaton held a slight 31-30 shot advantage over Westfield State, but the Owls stopped 18 shots on the night in net and owned an 18-10 margin in ground balls. The Owls also successfully converted 20 of 22 clear attempts.

Senior midfielder Avonlea LeBeau (North Branford, Conn.) tallied a pair of goals and added a game-high 12 draw controls for the Lyons, while sophomore attacker Jessica Chamberlin (Bow, N.H.) also netted two goals to go with three ground balls. Junior midfielder Gabs Smart (Oakland, Maine) registered three points with a goal and two assists in addition to six draw controls. Sophomore goalie Katie Geis (Duxbury, Mass.) stopped two of 15 shots in 39:18 of play, while first year Makenna Gilman (Middletown, R.I.) turned away one of two attempts in 7:12 and classmate Jenna Langan (Lincoln, R.I.) denied one of three shots.

Graduate student attacker Kylie Buchanan (Westfield, Mass.) and junior middie Mykenzie Black (Hopedale, Mass.) each scored four goals to lead Westfield State. Senior midfielder Megan Bailey (Quincy, Mass.) won five draw controls and added a pair of ground balls, while sophomore attacker Arianna Andresen (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) caused three turnovers and picked up a ground ball. Junior starting netminder Sydney Smith (Dalton, Mass.) turned back eight of 12 shots in the first half of play for the Owns, before yielding to senior Kara Banagan (Niskayuna, N.Y.), who made 10 saves against 13 shots faced in the second stanza.

Chamberlin put Wheaton on the board just 39 seconds into the match on a feed from Smart to give the visitors their only lead of the evening. The Owls responded with three goals in a span of 1:55, including two from Black and Megan Bailey added another marker to cap the string of four unanswered scores to give Westfield State a 4-1 margin with 8:47 left to go in the quarter. 

LeBeau and senior attacker Abigail Mountain (Niantic, Conn.) each found the back of the net for the Lyons to pull them within 4-3 with 7:33 showing on the first quarter clock.

The Owls reeled off six straight goals from six different players, including a marker from Emma Prattson with a player advantage to give Westfield State a 10-3 cushion with 4:51 remaining in the first half. 

LeBeau and Buchanan traded goals for each team prior to the final horn of the half to keep it a seven goal (11-4) advantage for the host Owls at the intermission.

Westfield State scored three of the first four goals of the second half, including the only two of the third quarter for either team, to increase its lead to 14-5 with 12:49 to play in the game. 

First year attacker Mieke Buterbaugh (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) netted her first collegiate marker just 42 seconds into the fourth quarter for the visitors and Chamberlin and Smart later scored back-to-back goals to cut the deficit to 14-7 for Wheaton at the 8:54 mark of the fourth quarter. 

Mollie Pacheco and Jessica Connors netted the final goals of the night for the Owls.

The Lyons return to play on Wednesday, March 27 when they host Emerson College in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference action at 7:00 p.m. on Nordin Field, while Westfield State heads to Amherst, Mass. to take on No. 20 Amherst College on March 26 at 6:00 p.m.