NEWTON, Mass. – It has been more than two weeks since the Munt Ida College women's lacrosse team has allowed a goal, and the Mustangs collected their third straight shutout on Saturday afternoon as they beat University of Saint Joseph (CT) 20-0 in their Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) opener at Alumni Field.
Emily McConnell (Dracut, Mass.) and Brooke Scahill (Ledyard, Conn.) scored five goals apiece for the Mustangs, who improve to 6-1 on the season and now have four clean sheets to their name.
The Blue Jays drop to 1-1 on the year despite 15 saves from junior Emily Bourassa (Bristol, Conn.).
Mount Ida took a double digit lead before the halfway mark of the first half, including scoring four goals between the 18:00 and 17:00 mark of the period.
McConnell completed a hat trick at 17:40 and Alyssa Kelly (Lee, Mass.) also scored two of her four goals in the opening half.
Jessica Henry (Wilbraham, Mass.) and Eleanor Garvey (Elkridge, Md.) combined for the shutout, with Henry making one save and Garvey making three stops as the Mustangs had a 44-4 edge in shots.
Scahill won seven draws, helping Mount Ida best the Blue Jays 14-6, and Kelly grabbed a team-high seven ground balls.
Senior Nicole Pavao (Peabody, Mass.) had three goals and caused three turnovers while also picking up five ground balls in the win.
USJ got two draw controls from Mary Lam (Newington, Conn.) and two more from Amanda Van Buren (Burlington, Conn.).
Mount Ida plays at home again on March 29th with a 4:00 pm non-conference game against Colby-Sawyer.
USJ plays their first home game of the year the same day when they host Newbury at 3:00 pm.