Wellesley Lacrosse Falls Against Smith in NEWMAC Action, 14-12

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- Wellesley College lacrosse dropped a 14-12 final against Smith College in their second New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) setback of the season on Saturday afternoon at the Wellesley Fields Complex. The Blue drop to 0-9 overall and 0-2 in NEWMAC play. Smith is now 5-1 on the season in 1-1 in conference action.

Junior Dacia Persky (Las Vegas, Nev.) paced the Blue with five goals, an assist, and four ground balls. Senior Jenny Gubner (Pleasanton, Calif.) netted a hat trick and caused a turnover. Senior Mayu Kikuchi (Villanova, Pa.), junior Ellie Chalphin (Philadelphia, Pa.), and first year Kat Gallison (Portsmouth, R.I.) each added a goal to round out the scoring for Wellesley. Senior Jenna Mulrenan (Glen Ridge, N.J.) grabbed a game-high nine draw controls, also adding a goal and three caused turnovers in the setback.

Smith senior Caroline Myran (Philadelphia, Pa.) scored a game-high six goals, also causing four turnovers to lead the Pioneers. First year Kaitlin Chiu (Palo Alto, Calif.), junior Chloe Harris (Alexandria, Va.), and classmate Gigi Macdonald (Newton, Mass.) all added a pair of goals. Sophomore Bella Ferraro (Orange, Conn.) netted a goal and had three caused turnovers and junior Emily Biggs (Florence, Mass.) added a goal, an assist, four draw controls, and four caused turnovers.

Wellesley got on the board first when Gubner put away her first of the game at 21:08. Macdonald put away a free position goal at 20:03 to give Smith their first of the game, btu Wellesley scored two goals back-to-back at 18:38 and 16:26 from Persky and Gubner to take a 3-1 lead. Smith answered with three of their own to take a 4-3 lead. Mulrenan and Persky added two more goals for the Blue, but Chiu scored with three seconds remaining in the half to tie the game at 5-5 heading into halftime.

Smith scored four unanswered goals to kick off the second half to take the largest lead of the game at 9-5. With Wellesley trailing by four, Gallison and Persky cut the deficit to 9-7 when they scored at 19:43 and 17:53. Kikuchi took advantage of a player-up situation, scoring a free-position shot at 8:31 to cut the Blue deficit to two, at 12-10. Gubner scored her third of the game at 4:57 to cut Smith's lead to 12-11, but Smith fired back. Myran scored the last two of the game for the Pioneers at 2:03 and 1:25 to help the visitors hold on to a 14-11 lead. Chalphin scored at 1:02 for the Blue to make it 14-12, but Smith held on in the final minute of play to secure the 14-12 victory. Wellesley held the advantage in draw controls, 19-9, and shots, 28-24, while Smith held the advantage in ground balls, 24-22.

Wellesley junior goalkeeper Chloe Tucker (San Ramon, Calif.) made six saves in the setback and is now 0-9 on her season. Senior Sarah Price (Hudson, Ohio) backstopped the Pioneers with 10 saves and is now 3-1 on her season.

Wellesley will return to action on Thursday, April 5 when they travel to Eastern Connecticut State at 4:00 PM. Smith will host Framingham State on Wednesday, April 4 at 7:00 PM.