NEWTON, Mass. – Mount Ida saw Fitchburg State race off to a 13-0 halftime lead en route to a 19-2 victory in non-conference women's lacrosse action on Alumni Field on Tuesday afternoon.
The Mustangs got goals from Sam Basler (Plymouth, Mass.) and Alyssa Kelly (Lee, Mass.) but it wasn't enough as Mount Ida fell to 1-4 on the year while the Falcons improve to 3-2.
Andrea Comeau (Watertown, Mass.) scored a hat trick for the visitors in the opening half of play while teammates Brianna Dunn (Monson, Mass.) and Corinne DeSimone (Dennis, Mass.) each padded two goals in the half while both players combined for four ground balls in the contest.
Ali Laferriere (Tyngsboro, Mass.) was the third Falcon in the game to record a hat trick alongside Comeau and DeSimone who tallied her third marker in the second half.
Bailey Miller (Leominster, Mass), Anna Gagnon-Burch (Putney, Vt.), Jaimee Lutz (Foxboro, Mass.), Kayla Panek (Belchertown, Mass.), Lia Crutchfield (E. Longmeadow, Mass.) and Laferriere rounded out the scoring in the first half.
The Falcons improved the lead to 16-0 at the 17:45 mark of the second half of play by scoring the first three goals after the break before the Mustangs got their first tally of the game by Basler, which was good for her second marker of the season. DeSimone struck again for her own hat trick and 8th tally of the season for the Falcons while Kelly then put away her team leading 18th goal of the year for the Mustangs.
Crutchfield and Sarah Mallahan (Dracut, Mass.) finished off the scoring for Fitchburg State while Mallahan's tally was her first career goal.
Nicole Pavao (Peabody, Mass.) picked up six ground balls while Kelly scooped up five of her own. Kelly and Briana Barker (Westerly, R.I.) totaled four caused turnovers between the pair while Jackie Tarsook (Derry, N.H.) recorded four saves in the contest.
The Mustangs held the slight edge in ground balls at 20-17 while Fitchburg was 15-19 on clears and the Mustangs were 6 for 6. The Falcons held the advantage in draw controls (15 to 8) in which Comeau notched seven for FSU and Kelly padded four for Mount Ida.
Mount Ida is back in action on Saturday when they travel to Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) foe St. Joseph (CT) for both team's conference opener with game time set to begin at 1:00. The Falcons hit the field again in two days' time when they host GNAC member Rivier University at 5:00 PM.