Saturday, March 09, 2013 (Newton, Massachusetts)- The Mount Ida College women's lacrosse team picked up their first win of the 2013 campaign under the direction of first year Head Coach Nicole Poli in dramatic fashion over the visiting Bison of Nichols College. With just over a minute left in regulation, junior attack Molly Sheppard (Brookhaven, New York/Bellport) scored the game winner on a free position goal, solidifying the win for the Mustangs with an 11-10 final margin.
Both teams surrendered several turnovers throughout the game with the hosts turning the ball over 28 times while the Bison turned it over 24 in the contest. The Mustangs struggled clearing the ball going 9-22, while the hosts went 8-15.
The Mustangs were led by several players offensively. Sophomore Amanda Bowen (Randolph, VT/Randolph Union) led the way with four goals on six shots while Sheppard tallied a hat trick of her own scoring three goals in her first game of the season coming off an ACL injury. Alexandria Milot (Tiverton, RI/Tiverton) tallied two goals on her only two shots of the game while Maile Melvin (Hebron, CT/RHAM) and Briana Barker (Westerly, RI/Westerly) each tallied a goal respectively.
For the Bison, they were led offensively by sophomore midfielder Alyssa Bufis (Linden, NJ/Morristown-Beard School) who totaled three goals on eleven shots as well as sophomore attack Grace Murphy who also notched three goals on the day on nine shots. Freshman Alexa Smith, in her first collegiate contest, scored two goals on seven shots for the Bison.
The hosts and the Bison traded goals in the 1st half, both scoring in spurts. Nichols got on the board early when Bufis scored at the 28:40 mark of the first half. Barker would return the favor less than 40 seconds later, tying the game at 1-1. Nichols went on and scored the next three goals with Bufis' second goal of the day and tallies by Murphy and Smith taking a 4-1 lead. The Mustangs would then turn things right around and take a 5-4 lead after four consecutive goals from Bowen (2), Melvin and Sheppard's first of the day. Nichols would knot the score at 5-5 just before halftime on a goal from sophomore attack Erica Antonison (Albertson, NY/Mineola).
Nichols would open the second half tallying two goals out of the gate from Shayna Ramalho (Monroe, CT/Masuk) and Murphy's second goal of the day. Bowen would retaliate seconds later with her third score of the game cutting the Bisons lead to 7-6. During the last twenty minutes of play, the Mustangs and Bison swapped goals and found themselves at a stalemate with just 3:45 left in the contest. With 1:05 left, the Mustangs were awarded a free position goal in which Sheppard attempted for the hosts. Sheppard converted the shot and tallied her third goal of the day lifting the Mustangs to a thrilling 11-10 win over the Bison of Nichols College.
Senior net minder Kayla Musty (Topsham, VT/Oxbow) played the entire sixty minutes of play while making 17 saves on 27 shots. For the visitors, AnneMarie Fana (Lawrence, MA/New Hampton) saw all 60 minutes of action making seven saves on 18 shots.
The Mustangs will get back to work on Monday, March 11, hosting non conference foe UMass-Dartmouth for a 4:00 PM game time. Nichols will return home on Tuesday, March 12, for a 4:00 PM contest against non conference opponent Lasell College.