SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (Apr. 6, 2013) - Led by a game-best five goals from sophomore Kirsten Kilburn, the Mount Holyoke College lacrosse team defeated MIT by a 17-6 margin in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action on Saturday. With the victory, the Lyons move to 8-2 overall and 2-1 in conference play, while the Engineers slip to 4-7 and 1-2 in the NEWMAC.
The Lyons jumped out to a really quick lead as a pair of goals from first year Julia Bell (Longmeadow, Mass./Wilbraham and Monson) and the first of three first-half tallies by Kilburn (North Branford, Conn./North Branford) gave the home team a 3-0 advantage in the first four minutes.
MIT bounced back soon after as Laura Wacker (Brooklyn, N.Y./Poly Prep Country Day) converted a feed from first year Nadia Wallace (Rochester, N.Y./Hilton) at 24:50. Less than a minute later, junior Erica Du (Excelsior, Minn./Minnetonka) fired one past the reach of MHC netminder Liz Malenfant (Nantucket, Mass./White Mountain School (N.H.) to make it a 3-2 game with 24:28 to play.
The Lyons took control from that point on scoring five straight goals to make it an 8-2 advantage. Kilburn added two more during that stretch, including a fantastic tally off her own draw control win, while junior Brianne Phelan (Quincy, Mass./Quincy) chipped in with two goals.
Wacker added her second of the game with 6:37 to play, but a tally by senior Christina Horimoto (San Jose, Calif./Leland) gave MHC a 9-3 lead heading into the halftime.
In the second half, Mount Holyoke continued to pressure as first year Catherine Ryan (Longmeadow, Mass./Longmeadow), who had a game-best four assists, fired in a shot of her own to give MHC a 10-3 lead.
MIT responded as Wacker added her third of the contest, but senior Molly Macdonald (Milton, Mass./Milton Academy) converted a feed from Phelan to make it an 11-4 advantage with 20:46 to play.
Goals from MIT's Du and first year Isabella DiDio (Jenkintown, Pa./Germantown Friends School) brought the visitors to within five (11-6), but Mount Holyoke took control with six straight goals, including two each from Kilburn and Macdonald to seal the victory.
In addition to Kilburn, Macdonald added four goals, while Bell had two goals and an assist. Ryan added a goal and four assists and Phelan and Horimoto each had two goals. In the net, Malenfant stopped seven shots to improve to 8-1 overall.
For MIT, Wacker had three goals, while Du added two. Between the pipes, sophomore Candice Kaplan (Arlington, Va./Thomas Jefferson HS for Science and Technology) made four saves over the first half to shoulder the loss. First year Paige Kennedy (Eastchester, N.Y./School of the Holy Child) came on in relief during the second half and also made four stops.
In the game, Mount Holyoke held the advantage in shots by a 28-15 margin, while they also held the lead 12-10 and led in draw controls, 15-9.
Mount Holyoke returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts Bridgewater State in a 6pm contest at the MHC Turf Field. MIT is in action on Tuesday at Babson for a 7pm game.
