NEW LONDON, Conn. — Just days after suffering a tough overtime loss, Southern Vermont College bounced back with a 15-12 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's lacrosse road victory over Mitchell College Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field.
The match was tied 9-9 at halftime before the Mountaineers held Mitchell to just three goals in the second half to finish off the league victory.
Southern Vermont improves to 2-1 in NECC play (2-5 overall) with the close win. SVC is right back in action on Sunday, visiting New England College for a 1 p.m. non-conference first draw.
The 15-goal mark is the highest-ever registered by the Mountaineers in a game, breaking the record of 14 that they reached twice over the last two seasons. SVC also surpassed its previous team-high of 16 in the draw controls column, grabbing 19 in Saturday's victory, while tying its program record of most caused turnovers in a single contest (11).
Alumni Field proved to be a favorable surface for Southern Vermont junior captain Mel Orrell (Gloucester, Mass.) who followed up her 10-goal game at Mitchell from last year with seven goals and two assists on Saturday; she added a game-best eight ground balls, four draw controls and two caused turnovers to her line.
Fellow junior captain Lauren Nesshoever (Chittenden, Vt.) tied her career single-game high mark of four goals to record the most this year in a contest, chipping in with an assist, three ground balls and three draw controls on the day. Junior captain Emily Lesure (Cheshire, Mass.) had another three goals to go with her two ground balls and team-best five draw controls while freshman Stephany Ferreira (Shelton, Conn.) netted her second goal of the year.
Mountaineer freshman keeper Sydnee Julian (Mexico, N.Y.) recorded her first collegiate win between the pipes (1-2), stopping four Mariner shots in the edging.
Southern Vermont outshot Mitchell by a 49-23 clip while forcing the Mariners to make 35 turnovers to the Mountaineers' 27. SVC snagged a 19-10 advantage in draw controls and scooped up a 35-20 upper hand in ground balls.
Mitchell started the game with a player in the penalty area due to an illegal stick but was still able to crack the scoreboard with the opening goal just 15 seconds into the action. Lesure answered to tie it with her first of the day just over four minutes later, only to see MC regain the advantage with the next two tallies.
Southern Vermont would then control the momentum, however, as the visitors took to a strong 7-1 surge to go ahead by four. Orrell notched her first goal to start that run before assisting Lesure at the 21:47 mark. Orrell then took advantage of a free-position shot before Mitchell got one to go for the 4-4 equalizer.
Ferreira came back with an answer just 20 seconds later before Nessheover fed Lesure for the junior's hat-trick and 14th score of the season. Nesshoever beat the MC keeper for the second time of the day, and Orrell followed with her third to put her team on top 8-4.
Mitchell would have an answer, however, closing out the half with a 5-1 run to even the game before the break. Orrell potted her fourth of the period before the Mariners tallied four straight to end the stanza, both defenses holding strong in the late-going as there was just one goal scored in the final 11:30 of the frame.
The game would not be tied for long after play resumed as Orrell and Nesshoever teamed up for back-to-back goals in the first 1:11 of the second half to put SVC in front once again. Mitchell got one back, but Nesshoever took an Orrell pass just 30 seconds later and put it in the back of the goal to set the score at 12-10 in favor of the Mountaineers. With a Mariner in the penalty area, Nesshoever followed with her 14th tally of the season at the 23:00 mark to make it a three-goal game.
Mitchell got one to go with 15:46 left to get within two before a scoring drought of 13:11 ensued. Orrell padded her team's 13-11 lead with two goals in the final 3:00 of regulation, her team-leading 20th goal of the year going into the cage with 1:19 left on the clock. MC scored once more 13 ticks later, but Southern Vermont would keep the Mariners out of the net for the remainder of the contest to finish off its second NECC win of the campaign.