The Sage Colleges Best Women’s Lacrosse, 19-13

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College senior midfielder Emily Walsh (Hadley, Mass.) and junior attacker Kaitlyn Harrington (East Longmeadow, Mass.) notched three goals, but the Sage Colleges used a 12-goal effort from Alexa Veeder (Earlton, N.Y.) to help spark a 19-13 victory in Saturday afternoon's non-conference women's lacrosse game at Leary Field.

With the loss, Elms moves to 0-2 overall, while Sage improves to 1-3 on the season.

After Veeder and Elms' freshman attacker Lauren Mazza (Agawam, Mass.) exchanged early goals, the Gators struck for five scores in a seven minute span, including three more from Veeder and one apiece from Ginelle Butler (Malta, N.Y.) and Alayna Kaiser (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) to give Sage a 6-1 lead.

Elms rallied to pull to within one as Harrington and Mazza fired in goals to bookend a pair of tallies by sophomore attacker Kayla Narey (South Hadley, Mass.) and set the score at 6-5 with 12:44 to play in the opening period.

The Gators answered back as Veeder connected for more goals, while Butler added her second strike of the game and Emily Stevenson (Ithaca, N.Y.) contributed her only score of the contest to give Sage a 12-5 lead with 2:40 to play in the stanza.

Walsh then scored two goals in the final two minutes of the half to bring the Blazers to within five (12-7) at intermission.

Two more Veeder goals and one by Allison Maben (Hudson, N.Y.) lifted the advantage to 15-7 early in the second half before Elms delivered its final comeback effort, outscoring Sage 6-4 over the final 18:20 of the contest.

Sophomore midfielder Brianna Lyons (Canton, Mass.) and Walsh each tallied a score, while Harrington and freshman midfielder Elisha Godbout (South Hadley, Mass.) connected for two goals each during the stretch but it was not enough as Butler and Veeder scored two more times each during the same stretch to seal the 19-13 victory.

Walsh and Lyons tallied four groundballs each in the loss for the Blazers and freshman goalkeeper Alysha Parsons (Newington, Conn.) added nine saves for Elms.

Gators' goalkeeper Mary Kate Hayward (Queensbury, N.Y.) added seven saves while Lindsay Millett (Ravena, N.Y.) and Veeder scooped seven groundballs each for Sage in the winning effort.

Elms begins New England Women's Lacrosse Alliance (NEWLA) action on Tuesday, March 20 when it hosts Fitchburg State University at 7:00 p.m. at Leary Field.