GEORGETOWN, Texas -- Mount Holyoke College first-year Emi Bisson scored the first two goals and finished with six goals and four assists as the Lyons rolled to an 18-4 victory over the North Central (Ill.) College Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon at Southwestern University.
Mount Holyoke (2-2) has already topped its victory total from 2022, and will open NEWMAC play this Saturday at home against MIT.
Emi Bisson (Chester, Conn.) scored five of Mount Holyoke's first nine goals en route to a 9-2 lead; the standout rookie then assisted on four of the Lyons' subsequent five goals, and scored the other, as Mount Holyoke took a commanding 14-3 lead.
Fellow first-year midfielder Amelia Knaysi (Grand Junction, Colo.) scored a season-high three goals along with one assist, three draw controls and a game-high five ground balls. In a big day for the first-year players, Elle Mader (Cincinnati, Ohio) scored her first two collegiate goals and Langley Berat (New York, N.Y.) added a goal and an assist. Sophomore captains Madison Millyan (Winchester, Mass.) and Ella Phillips (Sandwich, Mass.) also scored two goals apiece.
Abbey Triebe led North Central (2-2) with two goals, and Julia Clarke had a game-high six draw controls for the Cardinals.
With Emi Bisson netting three unassisted goals and Millyan adding a goal assisted by Berat, the Lyons assumed a 4-1 lead after one quarter, despite an 8-6 Cardinals edge in shots attempted.
The Lyons then dominated the action in the second quarter, outshooting the Cardinals shots 16-4 and outscoring them 6-2, to assume a 10-3 lead at the half. Five different players scored for Mount Holyoke in the period, including first-year Marielle Welch (Silver Spring, Md.) on a feed from Emi Bisson, which was Mount Holyoke's 10th goal in the game's first 27 minutes.
The Lyons blanked the Cardinals in the third quarter, outscoring them 5-0 as Knaysi tallied three times. North Central failed to stop any of Mount Holyoke's eight shots on goal in the second half.
Sophomore Lily Connelly (West Simsbury, Conn.) recorded her first two career points in the second half, assisting Knaysi with 27 seconds left in the third quarter and scoring on an assist from Berat with 2:31 remaining in the game.
Sophomore Emma Tower (Dover, N.H.) made 11 saves in goal for Mount Holyoke, while Bella Larocco made eight saves for North Central. The Lyons outshot the Cardinals by a 31-18 difference.
