BENNINGTON, Vt. — Southern Vermont College had its hands full Thursday afternoon, falling 17-4 to a quality Colby-Sawyer College women's lacrosse team in non-conference action at Everett Field.
The visiting Chargers put up the first seven goals of the day and never had the lead in doubt as CSC shut out SVC in the second half for the road win.
Next up for the Mountaineers (4-10) is their Senior Day on Saturday when they will recognize and honor departing team member and captain Emily Freling (Schenevus, N.Y.) prior to a 2:30 p.m. New England Collegiate Conference match against Elms College; that contest will end the regular season schedule and be crucial in determining postseason tournament seeding for both sides.
CSC (10-6) also finishes its regular season on Saturday, visiting the University of Maine-Farmington for a 1 p.m. North Atlantic Conference start which will give the Chargers a final chance to prepare for their upcoming league playoffs.
SVC junior captain Mel Orrell (Gloucester, Mass.) scored three of the Mountaineers' goals, adding team-highs of four ground balls, four caused turnovers and two draw controls to her line. Fellow junior captain Lauren Nesshoever (Chittenden, Vt.) scored once on the day while freshman Madison Carr (Petersham, Mass.) scooped up a season-best three ground balls. Senior defender Emily Freling (Schenevus, N.Y.) also had three ground balls as freshman Sydnee Julian (Mexico, N.Y.) had two and a caused turnover.
Colby-Sawyer senior Caitlyn Whearty (Hampstead, N.H.) tallied a game-high four goals on the day while also notching two ground balls and a caused turnover. Classmate and captain Sara Berry (Bowdoinham, Maine) registered a pair of scores, an assist, three caused turnovers, two draw controls and a game-best five ground balls in the win. Sophomore Courtney Lampert (Derry, N.H.) had a goal to go along with her three ground balls and game-high four caused turnovers, and classmate Nicole Lavigne (Berlin, Vt.) scored twice while having two ground balls and a match-best four draw controls.
Charger junior Meghan Castellano (Wallingford, Conn.) made five saves to pick up the win (10-6) in net while sophomore counterpart Kelsey Carrera (Queensbury, N.Y.) stopped 11 CSC shots in the loss (2-5).
The visitors had the advantage in loose balls, taking a 16-7 upper hand in draw controls and collecting 30 ground balls to SVC's 18.
CSC got on the board in just the third minute of the game when senior captain Maryalice Gurnee (South Portland, Maine) swept a loose ball on the turf into the left side of the cage for her 10th goal of the year. Lavigne took the ensuing draw control and went all the way to the net, switching hands on the stick before depositing a shot into the lower-left part of the frame to help get the Chargers on their way to the win.
Colby-Sawyer would then pad its lead with four goals in a 1:42 span of clock time to pull away. Whearty scored the latter two of that spurt, first taking a pass over the top from Berry in front of the net for the open slot before getting fed by a pass from below the goal line off the stick of freshman Sierra Schuster (Hopkinton, N.H.).
Schuster recorded her fourth scored of the year a few minutes later before Orrell got SVC on the scoresheet, taking the ball from about 10 yards over the CSC restraining line and weaving through the Charger defense before flipping a left-handed shot into the top of the net. Orrell would soon-after register back-to-back scores, the first being when she got to a rebound and flicked it past the Colby-Sawyer keeper. She then put home her 51st goal of the year on a free-position shot, making it an 8-3 game.
The Chargers extended their separation with the next two, however, as Lavigne bounced in a free-position opportunity at the top of the fan before sophomore Bailey Starr (Barre, Vt.) came around the left side of the goal and fired in her 16th of the year to put the visitors up 10-3. Nesshoever got the final tally of the half, taking a restart behind the net and spinning through CSC defenders to send in her 22nd goal of the season and set the score at 10-4 heading into halftime.
The final 30 minutes would be all Colby-Sawyer as the Chargers padded their cushion while playing staunch defense. Whearty came all the way across the pitch from the left side to swing a shot into the lower-right part of the goal, and senior Becky Batchelder (Pepperell, Mass.) then scored her second of the year when she got open in front of the net, took a pass from sophomore Molly Mulcahy (Nashua, N.H.) and flipped it into the upper-right corner of the frame.
Whearty chalked up her 43rd score of the season off a quick pass from sophomore Jenna Donahue (Walpole, Mass.), and Lampert flung a high, left-handed shot into the top-left corner for her first of the year as the Chargers finished off the decisive victory.