WELLESLEY, Mass. - Senior attacker Chesley Hooker scored a free position tally with 2:15 remaining the first overtime to lift Wellesley College to a 12-11 victory over visiting Mount Holyoke College in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action on Saturday. With the win, the Blue move to 9-6 overall and 4-3 in conference play, while the Lyons slip to 2-11 and 1-6 in the NEWMAC.
The visitors opened the game's scoring on a hot start as a pair of tallies from senior captain and attacker Catherine Ryan, followed by a score from fellow captain and attacker Julia Bell, to make it a 3-0 game in the opening seven minutes. Wellesley quickly answered with goals from junior attack Mary Lemay and junior midfielder Nikki Sharkin to close the gap, but a Bell tallie at 18:28 regained the two-goal (4-2) lead for the visitors.
The Blue answered as senior midfielder Ellie Mannon and Sharkin each found the back of the net to tie the contest at 4-all. MHC grabbed the lead back, heading into the intermission with a 6-4 advantage behind Ryan's third of the game and a goal from sophomore middie Leila Kouakou.
Mount Holyoke opened the second half with another marker from Kouakou, but the Blue kept pace as first year attack Dacia Persky converted a Mannon pass at 25:17. Bell and Kouakou each found the back of the net minutes later to push the visitors' advantage to 9-5, but Wellesley gained momentum with a 5-0 run to grab back the lead.
Junior attack Courtney Peterson scored on the free position, followed by goals from first year midfielder Ellie Chalphin, Persky and a pair of tallies by first year midfielder Lena Engbretson to gain the 10-9 lead.
Mount Holyoke fought back as junior attack Charlotte Wagner scored from a feed by Bell, who then turned around with 4:10 remaining in regulation to give the Lyons an 11-10 lead. It would be Engbretson who forced the extra session as she scored on the free position with 2:42 to go at 11-all.
Wellesley was paced by Engbretson's three goals. Sharkin and Persky each added two tallies, while Mannon and Lemay both had a goal and an assist each. First year defender Mariana Hernandez had three ground balls and two caused turnovers, while Mannon and Hooker each posted four draw controls.
For the Lyons, Bell had a game-high four goals with two assists. She also added three ground balls, two draw controls and a caused turnover. Ryan had three goals with three assists, while Kouakou also posted three goals. Wagner added a goal and two assists. Sophomore defender Julia Lankin had an outstanding effort with game-best's in ground balls (8), draw controls (6), while sophomore defender Kaitlin Braz and junior defender Alyssa Tabrisky each had a game-high three caused turnovers.
In goal, Wellesley's Chloe Tucker earned the victory with nine saves, while Lyons' junior Isa Rodriguez made seven stops on the other end.
Mount Holyoke edged Wellesley in shots by a 23-22 margin, as well as holding a 24-17 edge in ground balls. The two teams split the difference in draw controls at 13-13. Wellesley was 6-10 on the free position and 12-18 on clears, while the Lyons were 3-7 on free position and 13-18 on clears.
Both teams conclude their regular season schedule on Wednesday as Wellesley heads to Wheaton (4pm), while Mount Holyoke is at Smith (7pm).
