HENNIKER, N.H. — In its second away game in as many days, the Southern Vermont College women's lacrosse team fell 19-4 Sunday afternoon to a potent New England College offense in non-conference action at Don Melander Field.
The Pilgrims stifled SVC in the opening 30 minutes, keeping the Mountaineers off the scoreboard until the 14:09 mark. NEC brought a comfortable 14-2 lead into the halftime break and then padded that margin in the second period for the decisive win.
Southern Vermont (2-6) is next in action on Tuesday as the squad heads to Bard College for a 4 p.m. non-league matchup.
Mountaineer junior captain Mel Orrell (Gloucester, Mass.) scored twice on the day while fellow junior captain Emily Lesure (Cheshire, Mass.) and freshman Stephany Ferreira (Shelton, Conn.) each had another. Orrell added two ground balls, two draw controls and a caused turnover to her line as Lesure had another pair of ground balls. Junior captain Lauren Nesshoever (Chittenden, Vt.) scooped up two ground balls of her own, adding them to her team-best four draw controls and one caused turnover.
Freshman Sydnee Julian (Mexico, N.Y.) got the start in goal for Southern Vermont, racking up 15 saves in the loss (1-3).
SVC took a 14-11 edge in team draw controls while NEC had a 29-15 advantage in ground balls. Each team netted a free-position shot, and the Mountaineers were 9-for-15 on their clear attempts.
New England jumped out to a 9-0 lead through the midpoint of the first half, scoring four times before adding another five in a span of 3:07. Lesure then ended the shutout with her 15th goal of the year, getting SVC on the board with 14:09 to go in the opening stanza.
After NEC added another pair, Ferreira got her unassisted strike to go for the rookie's third tally of the year. The Pilgrims answered, scoring three more times before the halftime horn to go in front 14-2.
The hosts added to their upper hand once play resumed with four straight goals, a run that was ended by Orrell's first of the day at the 12:33 mark. Orrell followed with her second consecutive score on a man-up advantage for SVC, the junior's 22nd of the year making it an 18-4 game before the Pilgrims notched the finally goal in their third win in four games.