Mannon Nets Game Winner As Blue Lacrosse Outlasts Eastern Conn. St., 11-10

WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Senior Ellie Mannon (Birmingham, Ala.) scored the game-winning goal with 1:51 left in regulation to help Wellesley College lacrosse to an 11-10 non-conference victory over Eastern Connecticut State University on Saturday afternoon at the Mansfield Complex. 

Wellesley has won three-straight games, including back-to-back one-goal road victories, and is now 3-1 on the season. Eastern Conn. St. drops to 2-3 overall.

Mannon was one of six Wellesley players to score on the afternoon, netting a pair of goals, while also adding an assist. First year Dacia Persky (Las Vegas, Nev.) registered her first career hat trick and added an assist on the game-winner to lead the Blue. 

Juniors Nikki Sharkin (Summit, N.J.) and Mary Lemay (Longmeadow, Mass.) each tallied two goals and an assist, with Sharkin also registering two groundballs, four draw controls and three caused turnovers. Seniors Chesley Hooker (Cypress, Texas) and Nicole DeCanio (Weston, Conn.) added goals in the contest. On defense, Blue sophomore Jenna Mulrenan (Glen Ridge, N.J.) collected a game-high six groundballs while causing three turnovers. 

Junior Paige Schneider (East Lyme, Conn.) unleashed a game-high nine shots while recording a hat trick to lead ECSU. Sophomore classmates Allison Wylie (Ellington, Conn.) and Katie Burke (South Windsor, Conn.) each scored twice for the Vikings, with Burke also dishing out a pair of assists to finish with four points.  Sophomore Maggie Bodington (Stratford, Conn.), Tess Mraz (Fairfield, Conn.) and Devyne Doran (South Kingstown, R.I.) each added goals for ECSU.

Wellesley sprinted out to a 3-0 lead, scoring three goals in the opening seven minutes of the game thanks to a pair from Lemay and the first of the season from Hooker. 

An ECSU timeout helped the Vikings regroup following Lemay's second goal, as Mraz netted her seventh of the season at 22:06 to spur a string of four unanswered goals. Schneider scored the final two goals of the run, at 15:00 and 10:27, to help the Vikings to their first lead of the game, at 4-3.

Lemay found Mannon with 3:51 left in the first, before Bodington netted the fifth ECSU goal of the half at 2:14 to send the hosts into the break with a 5-4 advantage.

The Vikings would take a 6-4 lead just a minute and two seconds into the second, when Burke fired a free position shot into the Blue cage. However, it did not take the Blue long to tie the score for the third time on the day. DeCanio netted her second of the season on a free position shot at 28:33, before Sharkin scored just 27 second later, on an assist from classmate Courtney Peterson (Glastonbury, Conn.), to make the score 6-6.

Two more goals from the Vikings, including the third from Schneider at 26:49, made the score 8-6, before a string of five-straight free position shots helped the Blue take a 10-9 lead with 9:56 to play. Persky scored all three of her hat trick goals on free position attempts, netting her first at 18:13 and her last two at 15:23 and 9:56. 

ECSU tied the game for the fifth time with 6:05 to play in the second when Wylie netted her second on an assist from first year Michelina Pinto (Groton, Conn.). Mannon then tallied the winner with 1:51 to play, firing home a feed from Persky to send the Blue to the 11-10 win.  

Wellesley goalkeepers Wendy Nettleton (La Jolla, Calif.) and Chloe Tucker (San Ramon, Calif.) split time in the Blue net, combining to make nine saves as Nettleton earned the win to improve to 3-1 on the year. Junior Taylor Emmerson (Colchester, Conn.) made eight saves to drop to 2-3 for the Vikings.

Wellesley returns home to host Regis College in their next contest on Wednesday, March 16, at 4:00 PM. Eastern Conn. St. will also be in action Wednesday, when they travel to Connecticut College for a 4:30 PM contest.