Women's Lacrosse Falls to Wheaton, 17-8

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – The visiting Wheaton College women's lacrosse team posted a 17-8 victory over Bridgewater State University on Wednesday night at Swenson Field.

The Lyons improve to 4-1 on the season while the Bears fall to 2-4. Wheaton is now 34-7-1 all-time versus Bridgewater State as the two teams first met back in 1978.

Freshman midfielder Lara Finnie (Westfield, Mass.) paced Wheaton with a game-high five goals, while junior midfielder Brooke Harvey (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) checked in with four goals and helper. Junior attack Jessie Kilburn (North Branford, Conn.) contributed three goals and a game-best three assists for the visitors, and senior midfielder Darien Webb (Hamden, Conn.) added two goals and a pair of assists.

Freshman midfielder Nina Liquori (Agawam, Mass.), senior midfielder Delaney Langton (Scituate, R.I.) and senior attack Lindsay Brown (East Longmeadow, Mass.) tallied two goals apiece to lead the way for Bridgewater State while Liguori also recorded an assist.

The Lyons scored the first five goals of the contest and held a 5-1 lead after one quarter of play. Harvey and Finnie combined for all five Wheaton goals in the opening period.

Goals by Harvey, Kilburn and sophomore attack Avonlea LeBeau (North Branford, Conn.) helped the Lyons extend the lead to 8-2 with 8:44 remining in the second quarter. Langton notched her second goal of the contest to pull the Bears to within five before Webb answered for Wheaton to make it a 9-3 game with 2:34 showing on the scoreboard. Sophomore attack Savannah Herrington (Kinnelon, N.J.) responded for Bridgewater State just 20 second later to close out the first-half scoring.

The Lyons scored five times over the first 12 minutes of the third quarter to pull ahead 14-5 with Kilburn filling the net twice. Brown tallied a pair of goals in a span of 59 seconds to cut the deficit to 14-7 as the game headed into the final period. The Bears, however, would get no closer as Finnie, Webb and Harvey converted in the fourth quarter to cap off the 17-8 Wheaton victory.

Wheaton finished with a decided 42-17 shot advantage for the game as well as a 19-10 edge in draw controls. Ground balls were even at 26 apiece, while the Lyons went 18-for-24 on clear attempts and the Bears successfully converted 19 of 26 clears.

LeBeau and Webb notched seven draw controls apiece for Wheaton, while Langton led all players with seven ground balls.

Junior goalkeeper Emily Oundjian (Longmeadow, Mass.) made six saves to record her second win of the season between the pipes for the Lyons. Sophomore Laura Giovaniello (Walpole, Mass.) and junior Olivia Kerrigan (Braintree, Mass.) combined to make 16 saves for the Bears with Kerrigan coming on in relief to stop ten of 16 shots on net.

Both teams are back in action on Saturday afternoon at one. The Bears entertain the University of Southern Maine Huskies, while the Lyons open NEWMAC play at home against the Cougars of Clark University.