SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. – First year forward Charlotte Wagner tallied a goal and two assists to propel nationally-ranked Mount Holyoke College to a 3-0 NEWMAC victory over visiting WPI on Tuesday evening. The Lyons, ranked 18th in the latest NFHCA Top 20, move to 13-1 overall and 5-1 in conference play. WPI is now 6-8 on the season and 1-5 in NEWMAC tilts.
The Lyons struck quickly to open the contest as junior captain Kirsten Kilburn (North Branford, Conn./North Branford) rocketed in a shot off the corner just 1:37 into the opening half. Wagner (West Chester, Pa./Westtown School) earned the primary assist after she inserted the ball on the corner out to Kilburn in the high slot.
Mount Holyoke's second goal came in nearly the same fashion as Wagner fed the ball out to junior forward Diana Banmann (Hannover, Germany/University of Potsdam), who blasted a shot straight through traffic into the left corner at 6:24.
Wagner finally notched a tally of her own at 28:21 after she found a loose ball at the left corner that the WPI defense tried to clear out. Banmann started the play, firing in a lazer shot from the top of the arc that was saved by the goalie before going loose to the defender.
In the second half, the visiting Engineers looked to spoil the shutout, but could not capitalize on multiple scrambles in front of the Mount Holyoke goal. Junior forward Mary-Lee Barboza 
(Rochester, Mass./Old Rochester Regional) had the best opportunity after she sent a nifty shot in at the MHC keeper, which was deflected out. The ball came loose and WPI managed to get another shot that did go in, but the goal was waived due to an infraction by the Engineers.
For the Lyons, rookie Liz DiCesare (Westford, Mass./Bishop Guertin) and Mariesa Mazzone (Gilroy, Calif./Gilroy) shared the a clean sheet for the hosts. DiCesare turned away two shots in the first 59 minutes of play while Mazzone made two stops over the last 11 minutes. Liz Dufrense (Worcester, Mass.) and Lauren Puishys (Oxford, Mass.) each played a half for WPI. Dufrense was credited with a save in the opening stanza while Puishys made four stops and did not allow a second half goal.
Both teams had defensive saves on the night with SarahRose Garbor (Cazenovia, N.Y.) making one in the 43rd minute for WPI and Ruvimbo Mushavi (Harare, Zimbabwe/Arundel School) recording one in the final minute for MHC.
Mount Holyoke enjoyed a 13-8 favor in shots and a 9-5 advantage in penalty corners.
Both teams are back in action on Saturday with 1pm road matches. Mount Holyoke ventures to Cambridge to meet MIT while WPI heads to Norton to face Wheaton.
Contributions of the story courtesy of WPI Sports Information.
