Wellesley Lacrosse Falls To Bates In Season Opener

WELLESLEY, Mass.-- The Wellesley College lacrosse team opened up the 2018 season with a 21-5 non-conference setback against Bates College on Wednesday afternoon at the Wellesley Fields Complex.

Sophomore Liv Sanford (Kennebunk, Maine) and junior Katie Allard (Ridgewood, N.J.) led Bates with four goals apiece. Sanford grabbed two ground balls and caused two turnovers, while Allard added two assists. Junior Sydney Howard (Ashland, Mass.) recorded a hat trick for the Bobcats, who also got two goals and an assist from senior Teal Otley (Cumberland, Maine), a goal and two assists from sophomore Avery MacMullen (New Haven, Conn.), and two goals from first year Summer Dias (West Newton, Mass.).

Wellesley junior Dacia Persky (Las Vegas, Nev.) paced the Blue with three goals. Juniors Olivia Strobl (Stafford, Va.) and Lena Engbretson (Beaverton, Ore.) rounded out the scoring for the Blue each adding a goal. Engbretson and classmate Ellie Chalphin (Philadelphia, Pa.) also added assists.

Sandford opened the scoring at 28:59, scoring the first of back-to-back goals before Allard scored on a free position to make the score 3-0 Bates at 27:06. Persky got the Blue on the board with her first at 26:44, but Bates would go on to score seven of the next eight goals to take a 10-2 lead with 9:53 left before the half. Blue goals from Strobl and Persky made the score 10-4, but Bates first year Lila Hutchins (Westfield, N.J.) scored the final goal of the period to make the score 11-4 at the break.

Bates opened up the half with two quick goals at 29:40 and 28:50 to extend the lead 13-4. Engbretson scored the lone goal in the half for the Blue at 27:06 to cut the deficit to 13-5. However, Bates netted eight unanswered goals to secure the 21-5 victory against Wellesley. In the end, Bates had the advantage in shots, 37-16, draw controls, 18-9, and ground balls, 22-13, in the contest.

Junior goalkeeper Chloe Tucker (San Ramon, Calif.) suffered the loss for the Blue with 13 saves and starts the season 0-1. Bates junior goalkeeper Eliza Statile (Ipswich, Mass.) extends to 2-0 on the season as she made five saves splitting time with first year Rachael Deptula (Durham, N.H), who recorded two saves.

The Blue return to action next Tuesday, March 6, when they host UMass Dartmouth at 4:00 PM.  Bates will host Middlebury on Saturday, March 3, at 12:00 PM.