STRONG FIRST HALF POWERS WOMEN’S LACROSSE OVER WHEELOCK, 15-4

BOSTON, Mass. – The Emmanuel College women's lacrosse team jumped out to an 11-0 halftime lead and cruised to a 15-4 non-conference victory Thursday evening over Wheelock College at Roberto Clemente Field. With the victory, the Saints improve to 8-4 on the year while the loss drops the Wildcats to 2-9 overall. Prior to the game EC warmed up in "Boston Strong" t-shirts to show their support to those affected by the tragedy that took place during the 117th Boston Marathon this past Monday.

Emmanuel took control of the action early, scoring six goals over the first 10 minutes of play, never looking back. Freshman Sarah Higgins (Groveland, Mass.) got the scoring started with her 21^st tally of the year just 1:34 into the game to make it 1-0. Freshman Monica Burdick (Pawcatuck, Conn.) made it 2-0 with 26:44 to play in the half before Higgins made it 3-0 just 15 seconds later. Senior co-captain Madeline Leahy (Cohasset, Mass.) made it 4-0 with her 18^th goal of the season at the 24:02 marker and in doing so became the program's all-time leading scorer with 76 career goals, surpassing former teammate Logan Carr (Class of 2012).

The Saints continued to roll as sophomores Sarah Wootten (Berlin, Md.) and Alexia Basile (West Hartford, Conn.) got into the scoring mix less than a minute apart to make it 6-0 with 20:06 remaining. Leahy netted her second goal of the contest to make it 7-0 before Emmanuel's leading scorer, freshman Kristen Tuleja (Mansfield, Mass.) increased the hosts lead to 8-0 with her 31^st goal of the campaign.

Higgins, Leahy and Tuleja would all add goals over the final 15 minutes of the first half to make it 11-0 heading into the halftime intermission.

Emmanuel would increase its lead to 14-0 with the first three tallies of the second half as sophomore Madison Altwies (Southington, Conn.) made it 12-0 with her 20^th goal of the year. Basile bumped the lead to 13-0 at the 18:55 marker before sophomore Megan Mattox (Upton, Mass.) scored her first goal of the 2013 campaign to make it 14-0.

The Wildcats found some life midway through the second half, scoring four unanswered goals to cut the lead to 14-4. Freshman Anna Shuqom (Brookline, Mass.) converted a fast break goal started by freshman Kaitlyn Donnelly (Atkinson, N.H.) to get Wheelock on the board with 10:13 left to play to make it 14-1. Sophomore Molly Centore (Kennebunk, Maine) made it 14-2 with another fast break score, this time the play was started by Senior Despina Savvoulides (Norwalk, Conn.). With 5:12 to play, junior Katie Gavin (Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass.) found the back of the net on an unassisted tally to make it 14-3 before Savvoulides rounded out the Wildcats scoring effort with her 10^th goal of the year with 4:07 remaining to make it 14-4.

Emmanuel would add a late goal by Wooten to account for the 15-4 final.

Mattox finished with a game-high six groundballs to pace the Saints. Tuleja ended the night with five points on two goals and three assists and now has 43 total points on the year, the most by a freshman in a single-season in the program's three-year history.

Centore finished with a team-high five groundballs for Wheelock while Donnelly caused a game-high five turnovers.

Freshman goalie Lauren White (Lynnfield, Mass.) made four saves to earn her eighth victory of the season while junior Monica Bettle (Pembroke, Mass.) stopped eight shots for the Wildcats.