SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Two second-half goals proved to be too much for the Wheaton College (Mass.) field hockey team in a 2-1 loss at host Western New England University at Golden Bear Stadium in Springfield, Mass.
The Lyons slip to 3-4 on the season, while the Golden Bears win their fifth in a row to improve to 6-1.
Western New England owned a 16-12 shot advantage for the night in addition to holding a 9-8 edge in penalty corners.
Wheaton opened the scoring with 7:27 left in the second quarter and went into halftime with a 1-0 lead. The Golden Bears put the equalizer on the board in the third quarter and tallied the eventual game-winner with 6:42 remaining in the contest.
The Lyons cracked the scoring column on the second of back-to-back penalty corner opportunities. Junior midfielder Kelsey Thompson (North Attleboro, Mass.) sent the insert pass to senior midfielder Maria Worden (Burlington, Vt.), who was just inside the arc on the left side. She slipped a cross to junior forward Kayla Wilonski (Wallingford, Conn.) on her right. Wilonski pulled the ball from her right to her left, before firing a shot past the WNEU keeper into the far right corner for her team-leading sixth marker of the season.
The resilience of sophomore forward Mikayla Mrzywka (Macedon, N.Y.) resulted in the first marker of the evening for Western New England midway through the third quarter. She received a cross in the goal mouth and looked to push a shot past Wheaton junior keeper Elise LeBlanc (Hampstead, N.H.), but she was stood up after LeBlanc came off her line to meet the ball. Mrzywka recovered the ball for a shot into the right side to knot the score with 8:55 to play in the period.
Mrzywka struck again in the fourth quarter to put the Golden Bears on top for good. Junior forward Kayla Surprenant (Enfield, Conn.) sent a centering cross from the base line that Mrzywka got enough of her stick on for a backhanded shot that trickled over the line for her team-high ninth goal of the season for a 2-1 margin.
The Lyons had a pair of chances to pull even in the final five minutes of play. Senior Ally Slicer (Waterford, Maine) sent a cross to Worden in front of the cage, but senior midfielder Analise Trani (Norwalk, Conn.) was able to capture the shot with her stick to keep the home team's lead intact with 5:02 to play in the game. Wheaton made another bid to tie less than a minute later when Slicer carried the ball down the middle of the field, before zipping a lead pass to Wilonski, who was one-on-one with the WNEU goalie. Her backhanded shot was denied on the right side by junior netminder Alex Tardugno (Methuen, Mass.) to help secure the win for the Golden Bears.
LeBlanc finished with six saves for the Lyons, while Tardugno made four saves for Western New England.
Wilonski paced Wheaton with five shots in the game.
The Lyons return to the turf on Saturday, September 26 when they head to Wellesley, Mass. to take on New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference foe Wellesley College at 12:00 p.m., while the Golden Bears host Springfield College on September 23 at 4:00 p.m.
