Coast Guard Tops Wellesley Lacrosse, 17-10, in NEWMAC Action

NEW LONDON, Conn.-- Wellesley College lacrosse dropped a 17-10 setback against the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game on Wednesday afternoon at Cadet Memorial Field. Coast Guard improves to 10-4 overall and 3-2 in the NEWMAC, while Wellesley falls to 1-13 on their season and 1-5 in conference play.

Senior Daria McKenna (Mystic, Conn.) and first year Marietta Davis (Great Falls, Va.) scored four goals apiece to pace the Bears. First year Luisa Santos (Leesburg, Va.) recorded three goals and first year Brenna Farrington (East Northport, N.Y.) earned two tallies. Classmate Haley McCue (Arnold, Md.) scored two goals and had a game-high nine draw controls. First years Haley Howard (Wilton, Conn.) and Mary Goins (Peach Tree City, Ga.) both netted a goal in the contest for Coast Guard.

Junior Dacia Persky (Las Vegas, Nev.) lead all Wellesley goal scorers with four goals and senior Jenny Gubner (Pleasanton, Calif.) netted two goals in the setback. Juniors Ellie Chalphin (Philadelphia, Pa.), Mariana Hernandez (Orlando, Fla.), sophomore Anna Eichhorn (Westport, Conn.) and first year Carson Denis (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.) all scored a goal each to round out scoring for Wellesley. Senior Jenna Mulrenan (Glen Ridge, N.J.) picked up four ground balls and grabbed seven draw controls for the Blue.

Coast Guard struck first when McKenna found Farrington at 27:03 to put away her first of the day. Persky got Wellesley on the board at 19:22, scoring her 30th of the season, making the score 1-1. Davis scored the next two for the Bears as they took a 3-1 lead but Chalphin took advantage of a player-up situation at 13:24 to give Wellesley their second goal.

Coast Guard netted the next three goals of the game to extend their lead to 6-2. Persky scored back-to-back goals at 6:42 and 3:37 to bring Wellesley within two but at the two minute mark, Farrington gave Coast Guard their final goal of the half, netting the Bears a 7-4 advantage. Gubner scored the first of a three-goal run for the Blue at 1:13, followed by Hernandez with 12 seconds remaining to bring Wellesley within one going into the halftime break.

Denis capped the run at 28:52 to open the second half, to tie the game for Wellesley at 7-7. The Bears took their own three-goal run to extend to a 10-7 lead. Persky and Eichhorn scored at 11:43 and 10:58 to cut the Blue deficit to 12-10. Coast Guard surged through the final 10 minutes of play, scoring the last five goals of the game to make the final 17-10. Despite the setback, Wellesley held the advantage in draw controls, 17-12, but Coast Guard outshot Wellesley, 41-26, and had the advantage in ground balls, 19-15.

Wellesley junior goalkeeper Chloe Tucker (San Ramon, Calif.) made 11 saves in the setback, dropping to 1-13 on her season. Coast Guard first year goalkeeper Mary Budri (Falmouth, Maine) had three saves in her first half of play and classmate Rebecca Dolan (Wilmington, Del.) recorded two saves and earned the win for the Bears, improving to 8-2 on her season.

Both teams are on the road on Saturday, April 21. Coast Guard will travel to Mount Holyoke for a 12:00 pm start and Wellesley will travel to Springfield with the draw set for 1:00 pm.