Third-ranked Amherst hands 16th-ranked Wheaton 11-8 setback

April 24, 2005

NORTON, MA- The Wheaton College women's lacrosse team had its three-game winning streak come to an end Sunday afternoon, as the 16th-ranked Lyons suffered their first home loss of the season with an 11-8 setback to third-ranked Amherst College in non-conference action at Keefe Field. Wheaton falls to 10-4 on the season, while the Jeffs won for the ninth time in 10 games to improve to 9-1 overall.

The Lyons led through the majority of the contest, holding a 6-3 advantage at the half and an 8-5 lead in the second stanza, but Amherst showed its resiliency by scoring six unanswered goals to close the game. Junior Caitie Parker (Bethesda, MD/National Cathedral) gave the Jeffs a 1-0 edge, but When then rattled off two goals for a 2-1 lead, as senior All-America attack Vanessa Pisano (Vineyard Haven, MA/Martha's Vineyard) assisted on the first goal to sophomore Alison Morse (Freeport, ME/North Yarmouth Academy) and scored on the second.

Pisano had an outstanding first half, figuring in all six of Wheaton's goals with five tallies and one assist. Amherst responded from its one-goal deficit on two occasions to knot the game at three, but the Lyons bounced back with three straight tallies to build a 6-3 lead at the break. Junior Scotty Hanley (Baltimore, MD/Hereford) and freshman Gretchen DeLuke (Lewiston, NY/Nichols School) were credited with Amherst's other first-half goals.

The Jeffs' Dana Kuper (Denver, CO/East) scored twice in the first five minutes of the second half to narrow Amherst's gap to 6-5, but Wheaton juniors Molly Cronin (Brownsville, VT/Woodstock Union) and Julia Coit (South Portland, ME/South Portland) pushed the Lyons' advantage back to three goals with consecutive tallies with 20:28 to play. Kuper continued her impressive half from that point forward, figuring in Amherst's next three tallies with a goal and two assists to deadlock the game at 8-8 with 5:50 remaining.

Parker then used a free position opportunity to score the eventual game-winning goal with just under four minutes to go, and senior Ashley Harmeling (North Reading, MA/Harvard) and Hanley added insurance goals in the final 1:32, as the Jeff defense kept the Wheaton attack off the scoreboard for nearly 21 minutes en route to the victory. Pisano finished with six points to improve her career totals to 277 goals and 328 points, as she now stands fifth and tied for 17th, respectively, on the NCAA Division III all-time scoring list.

Kuper paced Amherst with three goals and three assists, all coming in the second half, while Harmeling contributed three tallies and two helpers in the victory. Hanley and Parker finished with two goals apiece for the Jeffs. Wheaton senior goalie A.J. Vasiliou (Middletown, CT/Mercy) and Amherst senior goalkeeper Olivia D'Ambrosio (Farmington, CT/Loomis Chaffee) each accounted for 12 saves in their respective nets.

Wheaton will next be in action at the NEWMAC Tournament, as the Lyons begin defense of their title with a semifinal round home game on Saturday, April 30 against the winner of Babson College and MIT at 12:00 p.m.

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