NORTON, Mass. — The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's lacrosse team was defeated by visiting Babson College, 13-9, this evening in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play on at Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons slip to 11-6 overall and 5-5 in league play, while the Beavers improve to 10-6 and 7-3 following the regular-season finale for both schools.
Both teams have earned spots in the upcoming NEWMAC Championship Tournament. Sixth-seeded Wheaton travels to Springfield, Mass. on Saturday, April 25 to take on number three seed Springfield College at 12:00 p.m., while Babson is the number four seed and will host fifth-seeded Smith College on April 25 at 1:00 p.m.
Babson held a 30-26 shot advantage, including 18-9 in the first half. The Beavers also posted a 13-11 draw control margin. Wheaton outscored its guests, 6-4, in the second half. Babson's goal total was its fewest against the Lyons since a 7-4 win for the Green and White on April 9, 2016.
Junior attacker Georgia Qua (Suffield, Conn.) scored four times to lead Wheaton, while first year attacker Kaydie O'Neil (Sturbridge, Mass.) collected three points on a goal and two assists and added two ground balls, two caused turnovers and a pair of draw controls. Senior attacker Jessica Chamberlin (Bow, N.H.), sophomore midfielder Alexis Antonellis (Lyme, Conn.) and senior attacker Natalie Bilodeau (Scarborough, Maine) each scored a goal and added an assist for the home team. Senior defender Katie Hallee (Norway, Maine) chipped in with three ground balls, a caused turnover and a draw control Junior keeper Jenna Langan (Lincoln, R.I.) stopped 11 shots for the Lyons.
Sophomore midfielder Courtney Laden (Wilmette, Ill.) netted four goals to lead Babson. Laden added three draw controls to her night for the Beavers, while senior attacker Lilly Bedard (Jupiter, Fla.) tallied a game-high five points on three goals and two assists. First year midfielder Grace Rooney (Milton, Mass.) finished with three goals, an assist, a ground ball and a pair of caused turnovers. First year attacker Jenna Wong (Walpole, Mass.) came up with three ground balls and caused a pair of turnovers. First year keeper Francesca Tamburini (North Bend, Wash.) made eight saves.
Anontellis and Qua book ended goals around a score from Laden to give Wheaton an early 2-1 edge with 9:44 to play in the opening quarter. Babson took control of the contest with eight unanswered goals over the next 20:54. Laden paced the run with three goals as the visitors took a 9-2 advantage with 3:50 to play in the second quarter. Bilodeau tallied the final goal of the first half with just five ticks to play to end the Lyons' scoring drought.
Rooney scored the first marker of the third quarter to give the Beavers a 10-3 lead. Wheaton netted three of the next four goals, including back-to-back scores from Qua and O'Neil and a marker from Qua just 28 seconds into the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 11-6 for the Lyons.
Bedard and Rooney sandwiched goals around a score from McDwyer to bump Babson's cushion to 13-7 with 5:12 showing on the fourth-quarter clock. Qua netted her 50th goal of the year for Wheaton and Chamberlin notched her 51st for the home team to close out the match and give the Lyons two 50-goal scorers in a season for the first time since 2012 when Hailey Colburn '12 netted 86 goals and Charlotte De Santis '14 scored exactly 50 markers.
