Wheaton clinches third straight NEWMAC regular season championship with 16-7 victory at Babson

April 19, 2005

BABSON PARK, MA- The 16th-ranked Wheaton College women's lacrosse team clinched its third straight New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) regular season title Tuesday at Babson College, as the Lyons posted a convincing 16-7 victory and extended their league winning streak to 15 straight games.

Improving to 9-3 on the season and a perfect 5-0 in the NEWMAC, Wheaton earns a first-round bye for the upcoming conference tournament and will host the semifinal round on Saturday, April 30 at 12:00 p.m. The Beavers are in search of hosting an opening round game, as they fell to 5-8 overall and 3-2 in league play.

Senior co-captain Vanessa Pisano (Vineyard Haven, MA/Martha's Vineyard), who moved into a tie for fifth place on the NCAA Division III all-time goals list with 270 to date, gave Wheaton a 1-0 lead 40 seconds into the game. Babson answered with a goal by first-year Anita Martignetti (Winchester, MA/Winchester) 20 seconds later, but the Lyons then rattled off six straight goals to build a comfortable 7-1 advantage with 12:28 remaining.

Pisano and first-year Meredith Hurd (Bath, ME/Hyde School) scored three and two goals, respectively, during that spurt. Beaver freshman Katie Boshko (Huntington, NY/Huntington) came back with two straight scores, but Wheaton netted the final four goals of the stanza to take an 11-3 cushion into the intermission.

Martignetti cut Babson's deficit to six with two consecutive tallies to start the second half, but that would be as close as the Beavers would get the rest of the way. Junior Julia Coit (South Portland, ME/South Portland) scored three of her game-high tying five goals in the final 19 minutes to seal the victory. Pisano finished with five goals and one assist in only one half of action, while Hurd and senior Kyla Graves (Warner, NH/Kearsarge Regional) chipped in with three goals apiece.

Martignetti accumulated three goals and one assist for the hosts, while senior Erin Conroy (Old Greenwich, CT/Greenwich) dished out two assists. Wheaton senior goalie A.J. Vasiliou (Middletown, CT/Mercy) went the distance with 13 total saves, while sophomore Jennie Williams (Andover, MA/Andover) and senior Margaret Schlachter (Saratoga Springs, NY/Stratton Mountain School) each played a half in net for the Beavers and combined for 13 stops.

Wheaton will wrap up regular season play this weekend, starting with Saturday's NEWMAC finale at MIT at 1:00 p.m. The Lyons will then host third-ranked Amherst College in a non-conference contest on Sunday at noon.

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