NEW LONDON, Conn. — Holding its opponent to just three goals in the second half, the Southern Vermont College women's lacrosse team won 14-12 at Mitchell College Wednesday afternoon in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) play at Alumni Field.
Sophomore Melodie Orrell (Gloucester, Mass.) tallied a season-high 10 goals to go with an assist for the Mountaineers who improve to 3-4 on the season and 2-2 in Conference action. The Mariners are now 0-8 on the season and 0-4 against the NECC.
SVC led 6-4 after a goal from sophomore Lauren Nesshoever (Rutland, Vt.) at the 11:23 mark of the first half, but Mitchell closed out the opening period on a 5-1 run to take a two-goal lead to the break. Orrell put her team ahead in the first 5:07 of the second with three unanswered goals before the Mariners tied it at 10-10. Southern Vermont then outscored MC 4-2 in the final 19:06 of action to hold on to a lead the Mountaineers would carry to their second straight victory.
Orrell also scooped up a game-high nine ground balls and caused a match-best five turnovers while sophomore Emily Lesure (Cheshire, Mass.) scored two goals and added four ground balls and three draw controls to her line. Freshman Natalie Canterbury (New Hartford, Conn.) notched two assists and grabbed four ground balls, and classmate Taylor Brewer (Bennington, Vt.) chipped in with a goal, two ground balls and a draw control.
SVC goalkeeper Kelsey Carrera (Queensbury, N.Y.) made 11 saves in her third victory (3-4) while the Mountaineers forced MC to make two more turnovers on the day (22-20). Southern Vermont picked up 25 ground balls to the Mariners' 16, and Mitchell took an 18-10 advantage in draw controls.
Southern Vermont is back in action on Thursday as the team hosts its first-ever home game, a 4 p.m. non-conference tilt with Fitchburg State University at Everett Field.
Lesure got the Mountaineers on the scoreboard first with her 10th goal of the season, and Orrell put in her first of the day about 30 seconds later off a Canterbury pass for the 2-0 advantage. Orrell put SVC up 3-0 at the 23:57 mark of the first with a free position goal, but Mitchell responded with four straight scores to grab a 4-3 edge with 17:20 left to go in the half.
SVC bounced back with three unanswered goals to regain the lead, the first being Orrell's fourth before Brewer scored off another free position shot. Nesshoever then took a feed from Canterbury and slotted her goal to put the visitors up 6-4. Two Mariner goals followed to tie the game before Orrell notched her fourth of the day to give her team a slight edge. That Southern Vermont lead lasted for almost three minutes before Mitchell scored three goals in the final 1:15 of the half to go into the break with a 9-7 upper hand.
Orrell came out of the intermission and put her team back on top, scoring three unanswered goals in the first 5:07 of the period; two were unassisted while the third came off a free position shot when SVC was a man down. Mitchell registered the next score to tie things at 10-10 with just under 20 minutes to play, but Southern Vermont would control a majority of the match's remainder with solid defense and goalkeeping. Orrell fed Lesure for an SVC goal at the 19:06 mark, and Orrell then scored her eighth of the match to put the Mountaineers on top 12-10.
The Mariners were able to cut the deficit to one with 13:30 to go, and the score stood at 12-11 through the next 10 minutes of play. Orrell then scored two straight, her second coming as the Mountaineers were a man up, to put her team ahead 14-11 with 1:19 left on the clock. Mitchell was able to score once more 12 seconds later, but the Mountaineer defense held tight down the stretch to hold off a Mariner comeback and preserve the lead for SVC's second league win of the year.
Orrell now has 29 goals on the season, tying for the fourth-most among any player in the NECC; her 10 goals at Mitchell are the most that any player in the Conference has scored in one game in 2015.