NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's lacrosse team was defeated by visiting United States Coast Guard Academy, 14-9, this afternoon in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons slip to 8-8 overall and 5-4 in league play, while the Bears win their fourth in a row and six of their last seven, while remaining perfect on the road at 6-0 and improve to 11-4 and 6-3.
Prior to the match, Wheaton celebrated its senior class on Senior Day, paying tribute to Ailise Cannon (Kensington, N.H.), Abigail Mountain (Niantic, Conn.), Avonlea LeBeau (North Branford, Conn.), Kendall Conwell (Weston, Fla.), Logan Truluck (Bath, Maine) and Natalie L'Ecuyer (Harvard, Mass.).
Coast Guard out-shot Wheaton in three of four quarters and held a 35-23 shooting advantage for the game, while controlling the draw by a count of 18-9. The Bears were extremely efficient in free position opportunities, converting five of seven attempts, while the Coast Guard defense denied the Lyons in five of six free position shots.
Junior attacker Lara Finnie (Westfield, Mass.) registered a game-high seven points with three goals and four assists to lead Wheaton, while LeBeau netted a pair of goals and added two draw controls, a caused turnover and a ground ball. Cannon picked up four ground balls in addition to a pair of caused turnovers and Conwell came up with four ground balls as well. Sophomore goalie Katie Geis (Duxbury, Mass.) stopped three of 10 shots in the opening 22:22 of play, before yielding to first year Jenna Langan (Lincoln, R.I.), who denied five of 12 shots in the final 37:38 of action.
Sophomore midfielder Abby McAllister (Pleasantville, N.Y.) matched her career high with six goals and the Bears scored eight unanswered goals in the second quarter to fuel the victory. McAllister added a ground ball and a caused turnover, while senior attacker Addy Bass (Redondo Beach, Calif.) netted three goals and added an assist to go with a pair of ground balls. Senior defender Mia Becker (Hudson, Ohio) contributed with a pair of goals, six draw controls and four ground balls and junior middie Caitlyn Coates (Hanover, Pa.) finished with a pair of goals, two ground balls and a caused turnover. Junior goalie Maici Mintchwarner (Cream Ridge, N.J.) made 11 saves for Coast Guard.
LeBeau tallied her team-leading 47th goal of the year with just two ticks left on the first quarter clock to give the Lyons a 4-3 edge. The Bears netted all eight goals of the second quarter to put them in the driver's seat for a victory, taking an 11-4 margin into the intermission. McAllister and Becker scored back-to-back goals in a matter of 12 seconds to open the second quarter and spark the game-breaking run. Bass, Coates and McAllister each netted a pair of goals each to close out the quarter and give the visitors a seven-goal cushion at halftime.
Wheaton's offense came out of the break with a purpose, scoring four straight goals to cut the deficit to 11-8. Truluck scored with a player advantage at the 11:04 mark, before Finnie found the back of the net for the first of three unanswered goals in a span of 122 seconds to pull the Lyons within three goals. It was as close as the home team would get for the remainder of the contest.
Becker tallied the final goal of the third quarter with a score coming just 18 seconds after Finnie's last goal to increase Coast Guard's margin to 12-8.
Finnie found sophomore attacker Natalie Bilodeau (Scarborough, Maine) for her seventh goal of the year just 49 seconds into the final period for Wheaton, but the Bear's defense held the Lyons without a marker for the rest of the quarter. McAllister scored the final two goals of the period to ensure the victory for Coast Guard.
The Lyons head to Cambridge, Mass. to play league rival Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Wednesday, April 24 at 6:00 p.m., while the Bears return to action on the same day when they travel to Worcester, Mass. to take on NEWMAC foe Clark University at 5:00 p.m.
