SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke College lacrosse team pulled away from a 6-6 tie with a dominating second half in defeating UMass-Boston 16-9 on Wednesday night on the MHC Turf.
Mount Holyoke (1-5) trailed 7-6 early in the third quarter, but went on a 5-0 run to assume an 11-7 lead with 6:09 to go in the third quarter.
The visiting Beacons (0-4) closed within two goals with back-to-back scores by Jamie McAleavey and Teresa Sheedy, but the host Lyons finished the game with five unanswered goals over the final 18 minutes to seal the win.
Senior Hannah Bisson (South Hadley, Mass.) led Mount Holyoke with four goals and three assists for a career-high seven points. Sophomore Emi Bisson (Chester, Conn.) scored four goals to go with eight draw controls and four caused turnovers, and senior Caroline Thompson (Harwich, Mass.) scored a career-high three goals. Senior Ella Phillips (Sandwich, Mass.) also played a superlative game, tallying her first points of the season with two goals and one assist to go with three ground balls.
McAleavey led UMass-Boston with three goals, while Mia Boyd and Emily Pearl tallied two goals and one assist apiece.
The game's first half saw the Beacons open the scoring with a free-position shot by McAleavey. Mount Holyoke answered with three straight goals for a 3-1 lead at the end of a quarter, but UMass-Boston responded with a 3-0 run of its own for a 4-3 lead with 8:32 to go in the half. Mount Holyoke retook the lead with back-to-back goals by Thompson and first-year Mackenzie Hillman (Newington, Conn.), Hillman's first career goal, but a free-position shot by Pearl evened the game. The Beacons tied the game once again after Emi Bisson's first goal at the 2:39 mark, with Boyd controlling the ensuing draw and driving down the middle for an unassisted goal that made it 6-6 at intermission.
UMass-Boston took its final lead as Pearl scored unassisted to make it 7-6 in the Beacons' favor, just 1:22 into the second half. Phillips assisted Hannah Bisson to tie the game at the 10:17 mark, then scored unassisted with 7:35 to go to return the lead to the Lyons for good. Back-to-back goals by Thompson, followed by sophomore Elle Mader's (Cincinnati, Ohio) score on an assist from Hannah Bisson, opened a four-goal lead (11-7) for the Lyons.
Mount Holyoke led 12-9 going into the final period, and its advantage over the Beacons continued to grow, as the Lyons outshot the visitors 10-4 and outscored them 4-0 in the final period.
Mount Holyoke had a 36-23 advantage in shots attempted and a 16-11 edge in draw controls.
First-year goalie Syd Baker (Needham, Mass.) had 11 saves in the victory, while Laura Falandys made 15 saves for UMass-Boston.
Mount Holyoke will open NEWMAC play on Friday at 6pm at Smith College. UMass-Boston plays at Regis Saturday at 12pm.
