Second Half Surge Sends MIT Past Blue Lacrosse

WELLESLEY, Mass. — Visiting Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) outscored Wellesley College lacrosse 11-2 in the second half to cruise to a 17-5 victory in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action on Wednesday afternoon at the Wellesley Outdoor Fields Complex. MIT improves to 8-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play. Wellesley drops to 3-3 on the year and is 0-2 in NEWMAC games.  

First year Emily Young (La Jolla, Calif.) opened the scoring 1:46 into the contest, scoring the first of her game-high six goals on the afternoon. Young's tally was also the first of five straight MIT goals to open the game, as Young would also add two more at 14:48 and 13:32 following goals from sophomore Hannah Levy (Yardley, Pa.) and junior Isabella DiDio (Jenkintown, Pa.) to give MIT an early 5-0 advantage.  

Young, who now has a team-high 36 goals on the season for MIT, also collected an assist, a pair of ground balls and three draw controls while taking a game-high eight shots. Levy found the back of the Blue net five times, also adding an assist and a pair of draw controls for the Engineers.  

Wellesley broke the early MIT run with a pair of goals at 8:54 and 4:49 to cut the deficit to 5-2. First year Jenny Gubner (Pleasanton, Calif.) scored on a great feed from sophomore Courtney Peterson (Glastonbury, Conn.), one-timing the shot past MIT goalkeeper Eva Boal (Princeton Junction, N.J.). Sophomore Nikki Sharkin (Summit, N.J.) then scored her team-leading 20th goal of the year with the Blue up a player following an MIT yellow card. Courtney Peterson finished with a pair of goals and an assist to lead the Blue while Gubner also added another tally to finish with two goals on six shots. 

Young and Courtney Peterson then both scored in the half's final ten seconds to send the teams into the break with the Engineers holding a 6-3 advantage. 

In the second half, Courtney Peterson countered an early MIT goal from Kira Schott (New Canaan, Conn.) at 24:19 to make the score 7-4. However, the Engineers followed with nine consecutive goals, including a pair each from Young and three from Levy, to take an overwhelming 16-4 advantage with 5:07 remaining in the contest. 

Gubner added her second goal with 2:02 remaining in the game before Levy scored in the final seconds of the contest to close out the 17-5 MIT victory. 

The Engineers outshot the Blue 29-18 in the game, also owning a 21-17 advantage in ground balls. In goal, Boal made 10 saves on 15 shots to improve to 8-1 on the year. For Wellesley, sophomore Wendy Nettleton (La Jolla, Calif.) also made 10 saves, dropping to 3-3 on the season. 

Wellesley will continue NEWMAC play on Saturday at 1:00 PM when they travel to take on Smith in Northampton, Mass. MIT will also be on the road this Saturday when they face Roger Williams in a non-conference match-up at 12:00 PM.