LONGMEADOW, Mass. — The Southern Vermont College women's lacrosse team is headed back to the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) postseason tournament as the visiting Mountaineers defeated Bay Path University 18-8 Wednesday afternoon at Ryan Field.
Southern Vermont (4-9, 4-2 NECC) jumped out to an 11-4 lead through the opening 30 minutes of the contest before edging the Wildcats by three in the second period to finish off the playoff-clinching victory.
SVC is right back in action on Thursday with a non-conference contest, playing host to Colby-Sawyer College at 4 p.m.
The Mountaineer victory ties the team's wins total from its inaugural season last year while surpassing its 2015 league mark. Not only will SVC be in the upcoming NECC playoffs, but it will host either a first-round game on Tuesday, April 26 or a semifinal contest that Thursday; the latter would occur if Southern Vermont is to win against Elms College this Saturday and get help from a Becker College loss in one of the Hawks' final two games.
Southern Vermont junior captain Mel Orrell (Gloucester, Mass.) racked up a game-high seven goals to go along with her one assist, three ground balls and career-high 10 draw controls. That goals total allowed her to top her program record of 43 that she set last year, already having 48 in 2016 with two regular season games left to play.
Fellow junior captain Emily Lesure (Cheshire, Mass.) followed with five goals and four draw controls while classmate and captain Lauren Nesshoever (Chittenden, Vt.) added another three goals and three caused turnovers.
SVC freshman Hailee Walker (Cohoes, N.Y.) registered two goals and two assists, and sophomore Natalie Rose Canterbury (New Hartford, Conn.) had a goal, an assist and a draw control. Freshman goalkeeper Sydnee Julian (Mexico, N.Y.) made five saves in net to pick up the win (2-5).
Southern Vermont took an 18-9 advantage in draw controls, coming one shy of the team's single-game record. The Mountaineers outshot the Wildcats by a 50-19 tally while SVC scooped up 11 ground balls to Bay Path's nine.
Lesure wasted no time in putting her team on top, scoring her first on a feed by Walker just 13 seconds into the match. BPU would get it back to tie the game with a free-position goal in the fourth minute, only to see the Mountaineers rattle off the next three in a 1:14 stretch to regain the upper hand. Orrell had the first two of that spurt, the second being helped by freshman Aubrey Vierstra (Saugerties, N.Y.), while Walker capped it with her first of the day.
Bay Path would tally the next score to make it a 4-2 game, but Walker assisted Lesure once again for Southern Vermont to go back up by three. The Wildcats got in the back of the net once again to respond, only to see the Mountaineers rally for six unanswered goals to pull away. Orrell had the first three of those, her second being assisted by sophomore Paige Vitale (Greenville, N.Y.) before Nesshoever took an Orrell pass and beat the BPU keeper to put her team up 9-3.
Canterbury then sent home an unassisted goal, and freshman Vanessa Kendall (Coventry, Conn.) recorded her first collegiate point as she assisted Lesure with 35 ticks to go in the half. Bay Path would score once before the horn, sending the game to intermission with SVC on top 11-4.
Walker notched her 17th goal of the year just 24 seconds into the second period, and the scoring would then go back-and-forth as the hosts tallied two of the next three. Vierstra had her second assist of the day sandwiched in that stretch as she passed to Orrell for the junior's sixth goal of the day. Lesure scored the first two of five unanswered Mountaineer goals, her 25th of the season putting SVC in front 16-6 with 16:53 to go.
Orrell then potted her 48th score of the year on a free-position shot, and Nessheover added her 21st goal of the season on a pass from Canterbury for the 18-6 upper hand. Bay Path would close out the game with the final two tallies, but that would fall short of making an impact as Southern Vermont concluded clinching its spot in the postseason.