Women's Lacrosse Falls in Season Opener to Wheaton

DARTMOUTH, Mass. - Despite a game-high five goals from junior midfielder Maddy Allen, the UMass Dartmouth women's lacrosse team was unable to battle back, falling to Wheaton College in the season opener. The Lyons are now 2-0 on the young season, while the Corsairs are 0-1.

Allen opened the game's scoring at 13:36 with an outstanding individual effort. The Lyons struck back as rookie attack Kaydie O'Neil netted the first of her four goals in the contest off a nice feed from junior middie Annemieke Butterbaugh at 10:32 to tie it up, 1-all. 

The Corsairs captain struck again at the 7:15 mark, making it a 2-1 game with another strong effort in front, but Wheaton tied it on a score by rookie midfielder Lucy Knof to send the two teams into the second quarter tied 2-2.

Wheaton answered to open the second as senior attack Jessica Chamberlin connected on a feed from sophomore Emma-Jane Parsons, but another Allen goal minutes later at 12:14 tied the game at 3-3 once more. The Corsairs could not hold off the Lyons offense as they netted three straight to open a 6-3 advantage, but UMD got a tally from graduate student attack and captain Emma Terino to make it a 6-4 game at halftime.

The visiting Lyons came out swinging in the third quarter, scoring five straight goals before another Allen tally broke up the run, making it an 11-5 game at 6:52. The junior netted her fifth of the game at 5:05 and Terino scored with 1:56 remaining but the Lyons headed into the final quarter with the 15-7 lead.

In the final stanza, the Corsairs got a pair of goals back-to-back from Terino, but could not hold off the visitors as they needed three more in the frame for the final margin.

Allen recorded five goals on eight shots, including seven on goal. She added five ground balls, three draw controls and a caused turnover. Terino netted four goals in her Corsairs debut, leading with nine shots - seven on goal - with a ground ball, a caused turnover and a game-high 11 draw controls. Rookie defender Myra Watkins-Rodriguez paced the way with a game-high two caused turnovers. In goal, sophomore Keira Bushey finished with 18 saves.

The Corsairs return to action on Tuesday, traveling to Salve Regina for a 7pm game against the Seahawks.