South Hadley, Mass. - March 4, 2020 - Despite a career-best eight-goal performance from sophomore midfielder Abby Baldwin (Florence, Mass.), the Mount Holyoke College lacrosse team fell to visiting Westfield State, 21-16, at the MHC Turf and Track Complex on a windy Wednesday evening.
With the loss, the Lyons are now 2-2 overall, while the Owls improve to 2-0 on the year. Both sides secured 14 draw controls over 60 minutes of play, while the Lyons held a slight 36-35 edge in shots. Westfield State also picked up 20 ground balls compared to Mount Holyoke College's 15.
Along with eight goals for Baldwin, first-year Lucy Stone (Peachtree City, Ga.) posted four points on three goals and one assist, including her first-career goal at Mount Holyoke College which she netted with 5:02 to play in the first half. Baldwin was also instrumental on the defensive end of the field, securing nine draw controls with two caused turnovers and three ground balls. In net, Mia Wysocki (Longmeadow, Mass.) and Erin Foley (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) split halves, as Wysocki finished with five saves and took her second loss of the year.
Westfield State opened the game with back-to-back goals just 46 seconds apart, before Baldwin found the back of the net for her first of the game at the 26:37 mark, cutting the Lyons deficit in half. From there, the two sides would trade goals, before the Owls opened up an 8-2 advantage on a 5-0 run, capped by a goal from Nicole Rinkus at 17:25.
Baldwin and Allie Brown (Burlington, Vt.) buried consecutive markers that were set up by Julianna Rankin (Annapolis, Md.) just 29 seconds apart to pull the Lyons back to within four, before Westfield State answered with a pair of their own to regain a six-goal lead with 9:35 remaining in the first half.
From there, Baldwin found the back of the net for the fourth time in the first half with 9:14 on the clock, before a three-goal spurt, capped with consecutive goals from Stone, made it 11-8 Owls with 4:10 to play in the period. Westfield State then scored twice in a 10-second span to regain a 13-8 lead, before Baldwin converted a free-position chance with 2:36 left, bringing the Lyons to within four, but still trailing 13-9 at the break.
The Lyons opened the second half with goals from Stone and Brown to cut their deficit to a pair, before Westfield State pushed their lead back to five with a three-goal run over 5:07. Mount Holyoke College then went on a three-goal run of their own, with strikes coming from Baldwin, Reina Torrez-Miner (East Lansing, Mich.) and Brown, making it 16-14, Owls, with 15:46 to play.
Westfield State then delivered five-straight tallies, three of which came from Cassidy Harvey, to grant the visitors a 21-14 lead with 7:51 on the clock. Mount Holyoke College would score the final two goals of the contest coming from Meryl Phair (Stockbridge, Mass.) and Baldwin, but the comeback fell short, resulting in the 21-16 loss for the Lyons.
Up next, Mount Holyoke College will hit the road to take on Salve Regina on Saturday, March 7 at 1 p.m.
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