LEICESTER, Mass. – Southern Vermont College took to a strong 15-4 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's lacrosse win over Becker College Wednesday afternoon at Alumni Field in a rematch of a 2016 semifinal matchup.
SVC went up 4-0 in the early going and never looked back—bringing an 8-2 lead into halftime before padding that for the team's double-digit victory.
The Mountaineers improve to 3-1 on the season and 2-0 in league action with the win. Southern Vermont is scheduled to next play Mitchell College on Saturday in an NECC tilt at 1 p.m.—that game serving as SVC's home opener.
Senior captain Lauren Nesshoever (Chittenden, Vt.) led the Mountaineers with a game-high five goals while adding an assist, five draw controls and three ground balls to her line. Fellow senior captain Emily Lesure (Cheshire, Mass.) followed with four goals and an assist as classmate and captain Mel Orrell (Gloucester, Mass.) tallied two goals, two caused turnovers, three draw controls, and a game-best seven ground balls.
SVC sophomore Sofia Sorriento (Troy, N.Y.) had three goals, five ground balls, and three draw controls for the visitors while classmate Stephany Ferreira (Shelton, Conn.) had a pair of assists and two ground balls in the win.
Junior keeper Kristiana Goldup (Schuylerville, N.Y.) improved her record between the pipes to 3-1 as she turned away eight Hawk shots on the day; she also scooped up five ground balls in the win. Goldup and the Mountaineer defense have played extremely well through the first four games of the year—holding their opponents to just 5.14 goals on a marginal 17.5 shots per game.
Southern Vermont had a solid 15-6 advantage in draw controls Wednesday while also grabbing a 35-28 upper hand in ground balls. The Mountaineers took their chances when they saw the net—racking up 41 shots to Becker's 14.
Nesshoever snagged the opening draw control and took it to the house for her 13th goal of the season and a lead the visitors would never give up the rest of the way. Sorriento scored off the ensuing restart for Southern Vermont to go in front 2-0 just 45 seconds into the match.
Lesure got her first of the day off a pass by junior Paige Vitale (Port Jervis, N.Y.) before Nesshoever potted a man-up goal to make it a 4-0 difference. Becker got one back on a free position shot, and the 4-1 tally then stood through the next eight minutes.
That's when SVC opened things up with three goals in a span of 49 seconds—Lesure and Nesshoever each making the most of free position opportunities before Orrell took a Lesure pass and beat the Becker keeper for her 12th of the year. Sorriento's second was followed by a Hawk tally at the 7:23 mark, and play then went scoreless through the remainder of the half for the Mountaineers to bring a six-goal lead to the intermission.
Vitale won the opening draw of the second stanza, and Ferreira would end up with the ball before finding sophomore Aubrey Vierstra (Saugerties, N.Y.) who deposited her first goal of the year. Nesshoever added another only 17 seconds later to put the visitors comfortably ahead.
Nesshoever capped her day's scoring with her team-leading 17th goal of the season on a free position shot to make it a 12-3 game, and Orrell then put her 13th of the year into the back of the net off a Ferreira pass. Lesure notched her 15th goal of 2017 on a free position look with 11:25 to go, and Sorriento added one final tally late in the game when she took a Nesshoever dish and slotted it in for her 12th score of the season.
– #LetsGoSVC –