WELLESLEY, Mass. — Junior attacker Georgia Qua (Suffield, Conn.) tallied seven points, including five goals to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) women's lacrosse team over host Wellesley College this evening in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at Butler Stadium in Wellesley, Mass.
The Lyons have won four of their last five and improve to 8-3 overall and 3-2 in league play, while the Blue dip to 3-7 and 1-4.
Wheaton owned a 38-23 shot advantage and held Wellesley to just two second half goals, while scoring at least three goals in every quarter. The Lyons converted all 15 of their clearing attempts, while holding the Blue to a 12 of 16 rate. Wheaton also won 16 of 25 draws.
Qua has scored five goals in each of her last two games and has netted at least five goals on four occasions this season for the Lyons. She added two assists, three ground balls, a draw control and a caused turnover. Senior attacker Jessica Chamberlin (Bow, N.H.) and first year attacker Kaydie O'Neil (Sturbridge, Mass.) both registered four goals for the night. Chamberlin tacked on three ground balls and a pair of draw controls and O'Neil picked up a ground ball and won a draw control. Junior midfielder Annemieke Buterbaugh (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) scored a pair of goals and assisted on another in addition to picking up a pair of ground balls. Senior defender Katie Hallee (Norway, Maine) contributed with a career-high 10 draw controls to go with a ground ball and a trio of caused turnovers. Junior goalie Jenna Langan (Lincoln, R.I.) stopped 10 shots for Wheaton.
First year midfielder Eliza Wysong (Kansas City, Mo.) led Wellesley with three goals, a ground ball, a caused turnover and three draw controls, while classmate Milica Simic (Park Ridge, Ill.) collected four points, including a pair of goals in addition to picking up a ground ball, causing a turnover and winning four draw controls. Sophomore attacker Merin Shell (Upper Arlington, Ohio) netted a goal and dished for an assist and junior Sofia Pietrus (Raleigh, N.C.) scooped up four ground balls and caused three turnovers. Senior keeper Anna Blake Patrick (Portland, Ore.) turned away seven of 20 shots in the first 45 minutes of play, before yielding to first year Scarlett McArthur (Toronto, Ont.), who denied three of six shots in the final 15 minutes of action.
The Lyons ripped off seven straight markers, fueled by three goals from O'Neil, to erase a 3-1 deficit and take an 8-3 lead with 10:24 left to play in the second quarter. The Blue countered with back-to-back goals from Wysong and sophomore attacker Charlotte Petersen-Kopman (St. Louis, Mo.) – in a span of 26 seconds – to pull within 8-5 at the 4:10 mark of the quarter, but it was as close as the home team would get for the remainder of the night. Buterbaugh scored with 2:48 to go in the opening half to send Wheaton into the break with a 9-5 margin.
Qua scored just 42 seconds into the new half, only to be matched by Wysong to keep it a four-goal difference. The Lyons held the Blue to just one goal for the final 25-plus minutes of action. Wheaton closed out the game by scoring six of the final seven markers, including two each from Chamberlin and Qua to ensure the victory for the visitors.
Wellesley opened the contest with three of the first four goals in a span of four minutes and six seconds. Simic, Shell and Wysong all scored to give the Blue a 3-1 lead with 9:21 showing on the first quarter clock.
The Lyons return to action on Saturday, April 4 when they travel to South Hadley, Mass. to take on NEWMAC foe Mount Holyoke College at 12:00 p.m., while Wellesley heads Worcester, Mass to face Clark University (Mass.) on April 3 at 6:00 p.m.
