NEWTON, Mass. – The Mount Ida College women's lacrosse team and the Corsairs of UMass Dartmouth battled till the very end on a rainy and foggy Thursday afternoon at Alumni Field that saw UMD steal a nail biter by the final score of, 18-16.
UMass was led by junior attack Colleen Kane (Arlington, Mass.) who scored a season high nine goals while also tallying one assist good for 10 points in the non-conference matchup. Kathryn Gibb (Georgetwon, Mass.) tallied a natural hat trick and also recorded one assist.
The Mustangs were led offensively by Amanda Bowen (Randolph, Vt.) and Sam Basler (Plymouth, Mass.) who each recorded five goals in the contest while Bowen also notched one of the two assists on the day for Mount Ida. Basler also recorded a season high 11 draw controls, coming just three draw controls away from tying the single game record. Rebecca Beaulieu (Weare, N.H.) scored four goals and one assist for Mount Ida.
Basler opened the scoring for both teams just over a minute into the game giving Mount Ida the early 1-0 edge over the visitors. Kane and Basler then swapped goals for both teams before Beaulieu scored her first marker of the day giving Mount Ida the 3-1 lead. Kane then responded with two unassisted tallies to tie the game at 3-3.
Taylor Hill (Braintree, Mass.) gave the Corsairs their first lead of the game at 4-3 at the 14:38 mark of the opening stanza before Nikki Kinneen (Salem, Mass.) tied the game on her third goal of the season on a free position shot. UMass retook the lead at 5-4 when Annie Lynch (Holden, Mass.) notched her only goal of the game from Hill. Bowen evened up the back and forth scoring frenzy at 5-5 on her 21st tally of the season.
UMD 's Catrina Longo (Billerica, Mass.) scored with 10:21 remaining in the half before Mount Ida scored three straight from Bowen, Basler and Beaulieu to take the 8-6 lead into the break.
The Corsairs started the second half scoring the first three goals off two tallies from Kane and one from Gibb while giving UMD the lead again at 9-8.
Bowen got Mount Ida right back in the thick of things when she notched her 23rd and 24th goals of the year and retaking the lead at 10-9. Erin Kish (Littleton, Mass.) scored her first and only goal of the game to bring UMD back once again, even at 10-10.
Nicole Pavao (Peabody, Mass.), Basler, Beaulieu, and Bowen fired off four straight goals to take a commanding four goal lead at 14-10 with just 14:40 remaining in the game. The Corsairs had other plans as they scored the next 8 out of 10 goals in which Kane tallied notched a hat trick, while Gibb scored twice and Longo and Kelly Kryzak (Salisbury, Mass.) each scored once down the stretch.
UMD held on for the win but not until Basler and Beaulieu each potted a goal apiece; but it was not enough as the Corsairs edged the Mustangs by a final score of 18-16.
UMD outshot Mount Ida by a slim margin of 36-30, while they also picked up 29 ground balls to Mount Ida's 25. The Mustangs were 15-22 on clears while UMD was 19-24.
Erin LeBlanc (Walpole, Mass.) recorder her first win of the season while Sydney Fredette (Hudson, Mass.) took the setback and dropped to 2-5 on the year.
Mount Ida will be back in GNAC action on Saturday, March 28th, when they travel to GNAC foe Rivier with game time set for 1:00. UMD will head to Western Connecticut State on Saturday with a 3:00 start.