SOUTH HADLEY, Mass.  – The Wellesley College lacrosse team opened NEWMAC play with a 15-8 victory over Mount Holyoke College at the Mount Holyoke Turf Field on Saturday. The victory improves Wellesley to 2-5 (1-0 NEWMAC), while the Lyons set their season mark to 4-2 (0-1 NEWMAC). 

A closely played first half saw Wellesley take a 4-3 advantge into the break. The Blue were paced by two scores from rookie attacker Claire Canty, while Lyons senior Hilary Bombard also scored twice. 

The teams traded scores to open the second stanza, before a Molly MacDonald tally knotted things up at 6-6 at the 21:31 mark. From that point on, Wellesley exploded for six straight goals and never looked back. First-year Nathalie Gruet and sophomore Brit Mscisz each scored twice during the rally, which spanned ten minutes. Mount Holyoke sliced the deficit to five on two occasions down the stretch but could get no closer.

Wellesley was paced by Canty, who piled up six points on four goals and a pair of assists. Gruet collected three goals, one assist and three ground balls, while Mscisz came up with two goals and a helper. Midfielders Meredith Roy and Allison Robbins added two strikes apiece for the Blue.

Defensively for Wellesley, Gruet tallied four caused turnovers, while sophomore Kaitlyn Kirkaldy added three. Roy led the way with three draw controls.  

Leading the way for Mount Holyoke's offense, Molly MacDonald picked up three scores, running her season goal total to 18. The Lyons also received a boost from first year midfielder Kirsten Kilburn, who posted two goals and five draw controls. Bombard found the back of the net twice, while sophomore midfielder Brianne Phelan chipped in with a goal and two assists. Senior attacker Alex Crean added two assists and three ground balls to round things out for the hosts. 

Wellesley held slim advantages in shots (25-21) and ground balls (15-12), while Mount Holyoke held a narrow edge in draw controls (13-12). The difference came in between the pipes, where Wellesley sophomore Tya Logan finished with 10 saves in her first collegiate start. At the other end, juniors Jamie Theophilos and Liz Malenfant combined to turn away just four shots for the hosts.

Mount Holyoke will return to action on Wednesday, when it visits Eastern Connecticut State University at 4:30 p.m. Meanwhile, Wellesley will host New England College on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.