Westfield senior Maura Stack rifles a shot past the Mount Holyoke goalie for one of her team-high three goals. (Photo by Mickey Curtis)
SOUTH HADLEY – Senior attack Molly MacDonald scored a game-high five goals to lead the Mount Holyoke College lacrosse team to an 11-6 victory over Westfield State University in non-conference action on Tuesday evening at the MHC Turf Field.
The Lyons move to 2-0 on the season, while the Owls are now 0-1.
Locked in a 1-1 tie after the first 10 minutes of the game, Mount Holyoke broke things wide open with seven straight goals to take an 8-1 lead into halftime. First year defender Julia Bell (Longmeadow, Mass./Wilbraham and Monson) got the flurry started as she fired in back-to-back goals to make it a 3-1 contest.
MacDonald (Milton, Mass./Milton Academy) pushed the margin ahead by three (6-1) after she scored three straight goals in under four minutes to put the Lyons in solid position with 8:39 left to play in the half.
Junior midfielder Brianne Phelan (Quincy, Mass./Quincy) made it a six-goal advantage with 1:49 on the clock, converting on a pass from behind the net by senior attack Christina Horimoto (San Jose, Calif./Leland).
Sophomore Kirsten Kilburn (North Branford, Conn./North Branford) then capped the scoring with 35 seconds to go as she capitalized on the free position for the first of her two goals in the contest.
The Owls fought back to open the second half as senior attack Maura Stack (Wilbraham, Mass./Minnechaug) tallied on the free position to cut the deficit to 8-2 at 28:46. MacDonald struck once again with her fourth of the game, off an assist from first year Catherine Ryan (Longmeadow, Mass./Longmeadow), but Westfield State began a rally.
Sophomore attack Amanda Bouchard (Lexington, Mass./Lexington) got things started with an unassisted tally in front while Stack added to margin with her second of the contest – another free position – with 25:17 to play.
Bouchard then closed the gap further as she scooped up a loose ball in the middle and pushed her way through traffic for the tally past Mount Holyoke keeper Liz Malenfant (Nantucket, Mass./Phillips Exeter Academy (N.H.).
Westfield sophomore Bridget Everett scores early in the game. (Photo by Mickey Curtis)
The Lyons wasted little time in grabbing the momentum back as Kilburn blasted one in on the free position and MacDonald converted off a feed from Ryan behind the net to make it an 11-5 contest with 10:17 to play. The Owls tried to battle back as Stack scored her third of the game on the free position, but it wasn’t enough.
In addition to MacDonald, who also had an assist, the Lyons saw Kilburn post two goals with an assist. Bell had two goals, while Ryan added a goal and a game-best three assists. Phelan had a goal and an assist. Malenfant recorded 12 stops in the Mount Holyoke goal.
For the Owls, Stack recorded three goals, while Bouchard had two goals. Sophomore midfielder Bridget Everett (Lexington, Mass./Lexington) had Westfield State’s other tally. In goal, freshman Mimi Khampaeng (Hampden, Mass./Minnechaug) made nine saves.
The Lyons return to action on Thursday in a 4pm game at Western New England University. The Owls are idle until March 12 when it battles the University of Rochester during the opening week of its spring break trip to Florida.
