SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- Jessica St. George scored four goals and Eva Kozikowski had two scores and three assists, including the game-winning goal, as Fitchburg State University topped Mount Holyoke College 12-11 in a non-conference women's lacrosse game Wednesday night, in a game featuring five ties and three lead changes.
The visiting Falcons (1-4) claimed their first victory of the year, outshooting the host Lyons (3-5) 35-28 and winning 19 out of 27 draws in the game, including a game-high 10 draw controls by Delaney Ponder.
First-year Emi Bisson (Chester, Conn.) scored four goals and dished out four assists for Mount Holyoke, while junior captain Hannah Bisson (South Hadley, Mass.) added two goals. First-year Taylor Dunn (San Francisco, Calif.) gathered a game-high nine ground balls in addition to three caused turnovers and one assist.
Both sides were charged with five yellow cards apiece, a season-high for the Lyons.
With the score tied 2-2 early on, Kozikowski fed Cali Laakso for a score that started a 3-0 Fitchburg run, including free-position goals by St. George and Laakso.
Fitchburg led 7-4 after Kozikowski fed Nicole Orlowski for a woman-down goal with 11:23 left in the second quarter, and that was the last three-goal advantage owned by either side.
Mount Holyoke got three straight goals of its own to finish out the half, with sophomore Madison Millyan (Winchester, Mass.), Emi Bisson, and sophomore captain Ella Phillips (Sandwich, Mass.) scoring in succession to tie the game at 7-7 going into halftime.
The Falcons scored first in the second half to regain the lead, as an errant pass by goalkeeper Alyson Cote down the middle of the field was caught up to by Alexis Raymond, who then fed St. George after finding herself in a 2-on-1 fast break.
Mount Holyoke then scored two straight to take a 9-8 lead, its first since 1-0. Emi Bisson assisted on both scores, just 68 seconds apart, with acrobatic catches and finishes made in traffic on both scores by first-years Marielle Welch (Silver Spring, Md.) and Langley Berat (New York, N.Y.), respectively.
Then shortly after a Mount Holyoke yellow card, Abaigeal Gilman converted a free-position shot for Fitchburg, tying the game at 9-9 with 5:37 remaining in the third period. That score started a 3-0 Falcons run that gave them an 11-9 lead with 12:23 to go in the fourth period.
Emi Bisson scored on free-position shots at the 10:59 and 6:59 marks of the fourth period, tying the game at 11-11. But with under five minutes to go in the game, Raymond picked off a clearing pass by Mount Holyoke goalie Emma Tower, drove at the Lyons' goal, then dished to Kozikowski open by the left goalpost for the finish and the final go-ahead goal of the game at 12-11.
Cote made the save on two final shots on goal by Mount Holyoke, stopping Millyan with 2:49 to go and Hannah Bisson with 50 seconds remaining, to preserve the lead and ensure the win for the Falcons.
Tower made 12 saves for the Lyons, while Cote made 11 saves for Fitchburg.
Mount Holyoke will resume NEWMAC play at Springfield College Saturday at 3:30pm. Fitchburg State will host Framingham State in a MASCAC matchup Saturday at 6pm.
