2007 NEWMAC WOMEN'S LACROSSE TOURNAMENT - Smith avenges loss to Wheaton, 10-7, advances to semifinal to face Wellesley

April 25, 2007

NORTON, MA- The sixth-seeded Smith College women's lacrosse team turned back number three Wheaton College, 10-7 in Wednesday afternoon's New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament first round action at Keefe Field. The Pioneers, who hadn't defeated the Lyons since 2000, improve to 5-9, while Wheaton finishes its season at 4-12.

With the win, Smith advances to Saturday's semifinal at Babson College, where the Pioneers will face second-seeded Wellesley College at 2:30 p.m. Wellesley defeated seventh seed Mount Holyoke College, 16-4 earlier today. Prior to today, Smith had dropped nine straight meetings to Wheaton.

Junior Meredith Hurd (Bath, ME/Hyde School) put the hosts on the board just 21 seconds into play, but Pioneer freshman Rebecca Capute (Easton, MD/Easton) knotted the game with a free-position goal at 24:37. The two teams proceeded to score two times each during a 6:25 span as the game was tied at three midway through the stanza, but Smith put together a four-goal run to end the half. Junior Sara Smyth (Brooklyn, NY/Poly Prep Country Day) had two tallies during that stretch.

Smyth tacked on her third goal to give the visitors an 8-3 advantage 4:14 into the second half. The Lyons rallied with three goals during a 2:14 span to narrow the gap to two thanks to tallies from Hurd and sophomores Caitlin Grant (Walpole, MA/Walpole) and Bridget Thornton (Southington, CT/Cheshire Academy). However, Smith sophomore Emily Riff (Wayzata, MN/Blake School) responded with consecutive scores just 1:06 apart to give the Pioneers a 10-6 lead with 14:49 left.

Riff finished with three goals and two assists to lead Smith, Smyth turned in a hat trick, and Capute added two goals. For Wheaton, Hurd recorded a hat trick and Grant scored twice.

Junior goalkeeper Sara Smith (Brooklyn, NY/Poly Prep Country Day) picked up 12 saves in net for the Pioneers, while Lyon senior Kristin Konig (Montecito, CA/Cate School) completed her career with 11 stops.

2007 NEWMAC WOMEN'S LACROSSE TOURNAMENT
Smith 10, Wheaton 7

SCORING 1st 2nd Final
Smith (5-9) 7 3 10
Wheaton (4-12) 3 4 7

Cumulative Scoring:
Goals: WC- Meredith Hurd 3, Caitlin Grant 2, Brittany King, Bridget Thornton; SC- Emily Riff 3, Sara Smyth 3, Rebecca Capute 2, Michelle Walsh, Carolyn Whiting

Assists: WC- Kim Corbin, Hanna Landis; SC- Riff 2, Kaitlyn Murdough

Goalkeeper Saves: WC- Kristin Konig 11; SC- Sara Smith 12

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