Women's Lacrosse Falls to Wheaton, 14-10

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Senior attack Giovanna Bishop (Portland, Ore.) and senior midfielder Angela Mallis (Falmouth, Maine) combined for eight goals and seven assists to lead the visiting Wheaton College women's lacrosse team to a 14-10 victory over Bridgewater State University on Saturday afternoon at chilly Swenson Field.

The Lyons improve to 2-2 on the young season, while the Bears fall to 2-3. Wheaton is now 32-6-1 all-time versus Bridgewater State.

Bishop led all player with ten points as she potted four goals and dished out a game-high six assists. Mallis also scored four goals and added a helper.

Senior attack Melissa Renauld (Framingham, Mass.) paced the Bears with three goals and two assists, while freshman attack Victoria McDonough (Marshfield, Mass.) added two goals and a pair of assists, and sophomore midfielder Elizabeth Ettridge (Marshfield, Mass.) notched three goals.

Wheaton potted the first two goals of the game and maintained a lead throughout the rest of the contest.

Mallis, Bishop and freshman attack Lilly Callahan (Wilbraham, Mass.) knotted two goals apiece in the first half as Wheaton led 8-6 at the break. Bishop's second tally of the period staked the Lyons to an 8-5 lead with 1:44 remaining. Wheaton had possession of the ball late in the stanza with a chance to add on to its lead, but turned the ball over. Bridgewater capitalized on the miscue as junior midfielder Haley Riley (Wakefield, Mass.) scored on a one-timer off a terrific feed from junior attack Gabby Reinold (Braintree, Mass.) with just two seconds showing on the scoreboard to make it an 8-6 game at the intermission.

Renauld paced the Bears with a pair of goals in the first half.

The two teams went nearly 13 minutes before scoring in the second half. The Lyons extended their lead to 9-6 at the 17:05 mark with Mallis converting off a pass from Bishop. Less than two minutes later, Bishop again set up Mallis to make it four-goal cushion (10-6).

The Bears finally got on the board in the second half as Ettridge tucked a low shot inside the left post off a feed from McDonough with 14:33 left to play. Bishop answered for Wheaton just 89 second later with Mallis picking up the assist.

McDonough scored an unassisted goal on a left side rush to pull the Bears to within 11-8 with just under 13 minutes remaining.  Freshman midfielder Molly Covarrubias (Framingham, Mass.), however, answered for the Lyons at the 10:41 mark with senior midfielder Hannah Gasperoni (Hampton, N.H.) picking up the assist.

Back-to-back strikes by Renauld and Ettridge made it a two-goal game (12-10) with just 3:51 showing on the scoreboard. The Bears, however, would not score again.

Bishop connected off the free position and recorded her sixth assist of the afternoon on a goal by sophomore attack Maddy Lahm (Lyme, Conn.) to account for the final tally of 14-10.

Wheaton held a 17-12 edge in ground balls as well as a 14-12 advantage in draw controls. Covarrubias led all players with seven draws.

The Bears outshot the Lyons by a slight margin of 22-21.

Lyons' junior netminder Galicia Rothe (Key Biscayne, Fla.) picked up the win in relief of starter Molly Witten (Bethesda, Md.). Rothe recorded six saves in just under 34 minutes (33:57) of action.

BSU senior goaltender Allie Forman (Marblehead, Mass.) made four saves in the setback.

In upcoming action, the Bears travel to MIT on Monday evening for a six o'clock game with the Engineers, while the Lyons head to Roger Williams University on Wednesday night to take on the Hawks at seven.

Notes: With her three goals, Renauld increased her career total to 185 as she moved past BSU Hall of Famer Paula Habel into seventh place on the Bears' all-time goal scoring list.