NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's lacrosse team was overcome by visiting Springfield College, 19-8, this afternoon in a New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference contest at Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons slip to 7-5 overall and suffer their first loss in league play to drop to 4-1, while the Pride win their fifth in a row to improve to 10-2 and a perfect 6-0 in league play.
The opening quarter proved to be an anomaly for Springfield. Wheaton held a 4-3 scoring edge and out-shot its guest, 7-4, in the opening period, before the Pride completely flipped the script for the remainder of the contest. Springfield held the Lyons to just four goals on 13 shots in the three remaining quarters, while scoring 16 goals on 31 shots in the final 45 minutes. The Pride held a 35-20 shot margin for the match.
Springfield's defense held Wheaton to a single goal in both the second and third quarters and two goals in the fourth period.
Senior midfielder Avonlea LeBeau (North Branford, Conn.) led Wheaton's offense with three goals and six draw controls to go with three ground balls and a caused turnover, while senior middie Logan Truluck (Bath, Maine) netted a pair of goals in addition to an assist and a ground ball. Junior attacker Lara Finnie (Westfield, Mass.) contributed with a pair of goals and two ground balls. Sophomore goalie Katie Geis (Duxbury, Mass.) saw action in the first 7:07 of play, allowing three goals, before yielding to first year Jenna Langan (Lincoln, R.I.), who stopped six of 13 shots in 40:16 of action. Classmate Makenna Gilman (Middletown, R.I.) closed out the match for the home team, turning away two of 11 shots in the final 12:37 of play.
Senior midfielder Maddie Roy (Wilbraham, Mass.), junior midfielder Samantha Andresen (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) and sophomore midfielder Sarah Newton (Colchester, Conn.) all tallied three goals to lead the Pride. Roy and Andresen each added an assist, while Andresen was active with three draw controls, two caused turnovers and six ground balls as well. Graduate student attacker Arielle Johnson (Pomfret, Conn.) collected four points as well with a goal and three assists. Junior defender Samantha Van Horn (South Windsor, Conn.) contributed to the defensive effort with a pair of caused miscues and a ground ball. Senior goalie Haley Moody (Wells, Maine) stopped six shots in the win for Springfield.
The teams traded three runs early in the match, but it was the Pride's stretch of 13 unanswered markers that ultimately decided the match.
Springfield faced a 5-3 deficit 8:58 left in the second quarter before Roy scored the first of back-to-back goals just 84 seconds later to spark the run. Her third score of the stretch came with 2:06 to play before the end of the opening half to give the Pride a 9-5 lead at the intermission. Springfield picked up where it left off from the first half, scoring the first seven goals of the third quarter, including two from Andresen and Newton's second tally of the stretch. First year midfielder Izzy Lalancette (Feeding Hills, Mass.) found the back of the net at the 7:02 mark of the third period to give the Pride a 16-5 advantage.
Finnie scored with 5:04 showing on the third quarter clock to cut the margin to 16-6 and end a Lyon scoring drought that lasted 18:54. The Pride countered with the final goal of the period from junior midfielder Abby Taylor (Cumberland Foreside, Maine) coming with 2:31 to go in the quarter and Newton netted the first goal of the fourth quarter, just 50 seconds into the new period, to give Springfield its largest lead at 18-6.
Finnie and LeBeau scored consecutive markers in a span of 2:41 to pull Wheaton within 18-8, before graduate student attacker Lauren Landino (South Windsor, Conn.) capped the scoring for the Pride with 1:51 remaining in the contest.
Springfield netted the first three goals of the afternoon, including two from sophomore attacker Lily Johnson (Oceanside, N.Y.) with 7:53 to play in the opening quarter.
The Lyons changed the momentum in a hurry, taking advantage of free position opportunities with four unfettered goals as part of a five-goal flurry to give Wheaton a 5-3 lead midway through the second quarter. Truluck, sophomore attacker Jessica Chamberlin (Bow, N.H.) and LeBeau all netted free position goals in succession in a span of 2:38, before LeBeau took a feed from Truluck to find the back of the net with one minute to go in the opening quarter for a 4-3 edge. Truluck opened the second quarter scoring with a free position strike to give the home team a two-goal advantage.
During Wheaton's offensive push, the defense held the Pride without a goal for a total of 15:19, before the stop gap was released.
Springfield returns to action on April 10 when it heads to Westfield, Mass. to take on Westfield State University at 7:00 p.m., while the Lyons travel to Newport, R.I. to play conference foe Salve Regina University at the same time.
