SAINTS SPRING PAST MUSTANGS IN HOME OPENER, 14-8

BOSTON, Mass. – The Emmanuel College women's lacrosse team captured a 14-8 victory over Mount Ida College in the Saint's 2015 home-opener, Friday evening under the lights and snowfall at Roberto Clemente Field. The Saints improve to 3-1 with the win and move to 1-1 and Great Northeast Athletic Conference action while the loss drops the Mustangs to 2-3 overall and 2-1 in GNAC play.

The Saints jumped out to a quick three-goal lead and never looked back behind a score from senior middie Alexia Basile (West Hartford, Conn.) and back-t0-back goals by junior middie Kristen Tuleja (Mansfield, Mass.) to make it 3-0 just 5:43 into the action.

Mount Ida answered with a pair of scores by sophomore middie Rebecca Beaulieu (Weare, N.H.), making it a one-goal game with 17:12 to play in the half before Tuleja scored her third goal of the night to bump the lead to 4-2. Ida sophomore Nicole Pavao (Peabody, Mass.) answered with a goal at the 13:56 marker to pull the Mustangs back to within a goal at 4-3.

Over the final 12 minutes of action in the first half and the opening 10 minutes of the second frame, the Saints put together an 8-0 scoring blitz to put the game out of reach.  Six players scored during the run including a pair of goals from freshman middie Stephanie Warn (Hanson, Mass.) and senior attack Madison Altwies (Southington, Conn.). Warn's second goal with 20:55 left to play pushed the Emmanuel lead to 12-3.

The Mustangs got three back with goals from freshman Shaylene Hegarty (Townsend, Mass.), Beaulieu and senior Amanda Bowen (Randolph, Vt.) to keep things interesting, cutting the deficit to 12-6 with 10:24 to play. Back-to-back goals by Emmanuel sophomore Savannah Lundwall (Fiskdale, Mass.) erased any chance at a Mustangs comeback, bumping the lead to 14-6 with 4:28 to play. Over the final minutes of action, both Bowen and Beaulieu found the back of the net for Mount Ida to account for the 14-8 final.

Emmanuel junior goalie Lauren White (Lynnfield, Mass.) made eight saves to earn her third win of the year while Mount Ida rookie Sydney Fredette (Hudson, Mass.) posted nine saves for the Mustangs.

EC returns to action on Wednesday, March 25 when they host University of Saints Joseph (CT) in a GNAC contest scheduled for 7:00 PM. Mount Ida hits the road on Tuesday, March 24 for a GNAC tilt against neighboring Lasell College at 4:00 PM.