NEW LONDON, Conn. — The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's lacrosse team was defeated by host United States Coast Guard Academy, 17-5, this afternoon in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at Cadet Memorial Field in New London, Conn.
The Lyons drop to 8-7 overall and 5-4 in the conference, while the Bears improve to 8-5 and 6-3.
Coast Guard owned a 36-14 shot advantage and held Wheaton without a shot in the opening quarter, while the home team attempted 10. The Lyons committed 22 turnovers and the Bears were forced into 14 for the game.
Senior attacker Lara Finnie (Westfield, Mass.) led Wheaton's offense with a pair of goals and moved into a tie with Molly Covarrubias '20 for seventh on the program's career points list with 191, while classmate Sophie Gromala (Killingworth, Conn.) tallied three points, including a goal on one shot. Senior midfielder Gabs Smart (Oakland, Maine) recorded an assist in addition to three ground balls, two caused turnovers and a game-high five draw controls. First year midfielder Claudia Shoemaker (Woodstock, Vt.) and sophomore attacker Georgia Qua (Suffield, Conn.) each scored a goal on just one shot for the Lyons. Sophomore goalie Jenna Langan (Lincoln, R.I.) stopped four of 10 shots in the first 15 minutes of the game, before yielding to first year Averie Walton (Cumberland, R.I.), who turned away 10 of 21 shots in the final 45 minutes.
Junior attack Abby McAllister (Pleasantville, N.Y.) racked up seven points on five goals and two assists to go with a pair of ground balls to fuel the Bears. Senior middie Caitlyn Coates (Hanover, Pa.) netted four goals and added two ground balls and senior attacker Laine Weber (Granite Bay, Calif.) tallied three goals in addition to an assist. Junior attack Isabella Judge (Buffalo, N.Y.) netted two goals, dished for two assists, picked up three ground balls and caused a turnover, while junior defender Rowan Walsh (Hampstead, Md.) led all players with four caused turnovers. Senior keeper Maici Mintchwarner (Cream Ridge, N.J.) made five saves in the win for Coast Guard.
The Bears scored all six goals of the opening quarter, including three from McAllister.
Gromala found Qua for Wheaton's first marker of the game just 40 seconds into the second quarter to put the Lyons on the board at 6-1. Coast Guard netted the next seven goals, paced by two from Coates, to give the home team a 13-1 cushion with 3:29 left in the second quarter. Gromala found the back of the net for the final goal of the first half to cut the deficit to 13-2 for Wheaton.
Finnie continued the Lyons' momentum with the first score of the third quarter at 11:04 and scored again following a marker from Weber to put the margin at 14-4 with 54 ticks left in the third period.
Coast Guard tallied three of four goals in the final quarter, including the first three of the period to take its largest lead of the day following a goal from senior attacker Katharine Rott (Severna Park, Md.) with 5:05 to go in the contest. Shoemaker scored the game's final goal on a feed from Smart to pull Wheaton within 17-5.
The Lyons return to action on Wednesday, April 23 when they host NEWMAC foe Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Nordin Field at 7:00 p.m., while the Bears host league rival Clark University on the same day at 6:00 p.m.
