Lacrosse dominates New England College after slow start this season
The Mount Holyoke Lyons Lacrosse team pulled off their first win of the 2014 season this past Saturday. The Lyons (1-2, 0-0 NEWMAC) defeated the New England College Pilgrims (0-1) by a hefty margin of 21-7.
2013 NEWMAC Rookie of the Year Julia Bell ’16 led the team with nine goals and four assists. The nine goals in one game is a career high for Bell, who led the Lyons in points and was second in goals scored last year. Captain Kirstin Kilburn ’15 added seven goals and two assists.
The Lyons started scoring early, with Bell netting a shot assisted by Catherine Ryan ’16 40 seconds after the draw. The Pilgrims countered less than a minute later when senior Emily Bamberger netted a shot. MHC then scored four unanswered goals in four minutes, increasing their lead to four, 5-1, in six minutes.
Over the next ten minutes the Lyon’s offense dominated, with braces scored by Liz Randolph ’14 and Kilburn, while Charlotte Wagner ’17 and Bell each added one.
The Pioneers defense re-collected and held the Lyons scoreless in the last 11 minutes of the first half, while the Bamberger added a goal for NEC. The half ended 12-5, Lyons’ favor.
The second half opened with another quick goal, this time by NEC’s Eleni Hatsis. The Lyons responded with an offensive barrage, led by Bell, who scored six times in the second half. After 20 minutes of play, MHC lead 19-6. NEC added their final goal with 10 minutes to go, another tally from Belanger. Captain Naomi Miller ’14 finished the scoring with 1:13 to go.
The Lyons dominated in goals, shots, shots on goal, draw controls, clears, free position shots and ground balls. MHC players who scored include: Wagner, Randolph, Kilburn, Miller and Bell. Kilburn, Katie Block ’15, captain Brianne Phelan ’14, Ryan and Bell all contributed assists. First-year goaltender Isa Rodriguez made three saves against 10 shots.
When asked about the team’s performance, Kilburn said, “I think a big takeaway from that game is that even though we may be a young team we are very powerful… It was definitely a team effort on Saturday.”
This win comes much deserved after two hard losses, including an 11-10 contest against Bridgewater State on March 4. The Pioneers head to Wellesley on March 15. MHC hosted Western New England University on Tuesday to a 16-14 defeat.
Author: Cara Murphy Cara is in charge of protecting the English language and journalistic style integrity of the Mount Holyoke News! Her copy staff (fondly known as minions) and her are always on the lookout, slaying spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors. She started as a squire in her sophomore year, was Knighted Copy Chief at the beginning of her junior year and anointed Overlord of the minions at the end of last semester. She is majoring in Psychology and self-designing a minor in Sport and Exercise Science and is a captain on the Crew team. Hobbies include throwing things at Julia the Sports Editor, yelling at dangling modifiers and eating popcorn.
