Women's Lacrosse Flattens Mitchell

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Elms College women's lacrosse team steamrolled host Mitchell College, 25-10, in a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) contest at Alumni Field Thursday afternoon.

Alecia Keesee (Westfield, Mass./Westfield) had five goals and two assists for the Blazers while Vanessa Vurno (Salem, Conn./East Lyme) added four goals and four helpers. Haley Richard (Monson, Mass./Monson), Janis Christian (Westfield, Mass./Westfield) and Kathleen Tuechler (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) each finished with four goals apiece while Meeghan O'Connor (Fall River, Mass./Bishop Connolly) made eight stops in goal against 23 total shots.

Mitchell was led by seven goals from Ashley Murtha (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor) while Kate McCormack (Narragansett, R.I./The Prout School) contributed two and Willeen Pun (Stamford, Conn./Stamford) had one. Goalie Gillian MacLellan (Hebron, Maine/Landmark School) made 12 saves against 44 total shots.

Murtha opened the scoring in the game's first minute to give Mitchell the early advantage, but Elms responded with seven goals over a 2:21 stretch to take command. Vurno scored three times during the spurt which left the Blazers with a 7-1 lead with 25:55 to go in the half.

Mitchell trailed 15-5 late in the half before closing strong, scoring four times in the final 5:46 of the stanza. McCormack and Pun each potted goals to get things going, and Murtha finished with back-to-back scores to cut the deficit to 16-9.

A goal by Vurno in the closing seconds of the half gave Elms a 17-9 lead at the break. Vurno, and Keesee each had four goals by intermission as the Blazers outshot the Mariners 31-12.

Elms outscored Mitchell 8-1 in the second half to seal the victory. Richard and Christian each scored twice over the final 30 minutes while Keesee added her fifth of the day.

Mitchell (2-4 overall, 1-3 NECC) will next host Becker College on Saturday, April 15 at noon. Elms (7-2 overall, 5-1 NECC) returns to action at Newbury College on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Source: (Mitchell Athletics)