NORTON, Mass. - The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's lacrosse team came out on top of Saturday afternoon's barn burner on Nordin Field against Worcester State University, out-jousting the Lancers 17-15. Senior Jessica Chamberlin (Bow, N.H.) paced the Wheaton offense with four goals to lead the Lyons to victory.

Wheaton improves to 4-0 with their second home win in a row, while Worcester State falls to 2-2 in the blossoming stages of their campaign.

Chamberlin found the back of the net four times, adding an assist for a five point game. Junior Georgia Qua (Suffield, Conn.) matched her teammate's point total with another hat-trick of goals and two assists. Sophomore Alexis Antonellis (Lyme, Conn.) was the third Lyon to earn a hat-trick, netting three goals on three shots for a perfectly efficient afternoon. Senior Natalie Bilodeau (Scarborough, Maine) and first year Kaydie O'Neil (Sturbridge, Mass.) both had three point games with a goal and two assists. The goalkeeping duties were split nearly down the middle, with junior Jenna Langan (Lincoln, R.I.) playing 23 minutes and making two saves while senior Katie Geis (Duxbury, Mass.) saw 37 minutes and made seven saves.

Senior attack Molly Witkowski (Greenville, N.Y.) led the Lancers with four goals and three assists for a game-high seven points. Senior Shannon Donahue (Dennis, Mass.) also slipped four shots past the Lyons and added one more assist for a five-point game. The visitors did a great job at spreading the wealth, working seven other players into the mix for a goal. Sophomore goalkeeper Cadence Oleniak (Hampton, N.H.) had a busy day between the pipes, making nine saves on 26 shots faced.

Wheaton needed only 79 seconds to start the scoring. Senior Sara Spielman (Norwalk, Conn.) slipped the first goal of the game past Oleniak early on in the first quarter, setting the tone for the slugfest to come. Qua found Chamberlin two minutes later for the Lyons second goal, but Worcester was able to claw their way onto the scoreboard with a Donahue goal seconds later. Antonellis answered back with an unassisted goal right off of the draw, but Witkowski responded with her first goal of the game. O'Neil scored ahead of first year Emma-Jane Parsons (Oakland, Maine) to make it 5-2 Lyons, but the Lancers scored twice before the break to make it a one-goal game.

Chamberlin led off the second quarter with another goal, but Witkowski wiped away the two-goal lead single-handedly, scoring back-to-back goals to tie it at 6-6. First year attack Savannah Botthof (Chester, Pa.) scored the go-ahead goal for Worcester to give the visitors the lead at 7-6, but a Qua goal to tie and a goal from Claudia Shoemaker (Woodstock, Vt.) to take the lead flipped the momentum back in the Lyons' direction. Witkowski found first year Fallon Lozano (Upton, Mass.) open in the middle for another tying goal, sending the game to halftime at 8-8.

Antonellis scored first for Wheaton out of the intermission as she slipped one past Oleniak while shorthanded. Witkowski came up clutch once more to tie the game at 9-9 just minutes later, but Antonellis responded with her third and final goal of the day to regain the lead for Wheaton. Qua and Chamberlin each scored again to compound the advantage for Wheaton, and in the blink of an eye they led 12-9. First year Kendall Maxon (Wells, Maine) got one more for Wheaton to help stave off the late surge from the Lancers, and the Lyons entered the fourth quarter in the lead at 13-12.

Wheaton scored the first goal of the final frame, just as they had in all the others. This time it was Qua with the opening honors, burying a man-up chance to complete the hat trick. Two goals from Worcester State brought the visitors within one, but Shoemaker and Bilodeau finished off the visitor's charge by each scoring a goal. Wheaton let Donahue escape through the defense for one more WSU goal, but the Lyons were well ahead. Time expired, and the Lancers comeback bid fell short, giving the Lyons a 17-15 win.

Wheaton will return to Nordin Field this coming Thursday as they host Vassar College on March 12th at 1:00 p.m. The Lancers will take on Johnson & Wales University (RI) on Tuesday, March 10th at 5:00 pm in Worcester.