WESTFIELD, Mass. -- MIT held on late to defeat Westfield State, 12-11, in a non-conference women's lacrosse game on Saturday evening at Alumni Field.

Westfield State jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first 12 minutes of the game with a pair of goals by Samantha Coyle sandwiched around a tally from Sam Donohoe (North Middlesex/Pepperell, Mass.) .

Emily Young (La Jolla, Calif.) finally got the Engineers on the board at the 17:41 mark, and added her second goal of the day 53 seconds later to cut the Owls lead to 3-2.

Westfield led 5-3 after a Marissa Nimeskern (Hanover, Mass.) goal with 11:27 left to play in the opening half, but the Engineers posted the final five goals of the half to lead 8-5 at the intermission.

MIT built its lead to as many as five goals, 11-6 in the early stages of the second half after back-to-back goals from Katie Notarangelo (Foxborough, Mass.) with 21:28 to play.

Westfield wasn't done, scoring the next four goals to cut the lead down the 11-10 when Brooke Williams (Minnechaug/Wilbraham, Mass.) earned a free position at the top of the fan, and fed Alexa Tonelli (Shrewsbury, Mass.) cutting to the goal for a score with 6:01 to play.

MIT's answered as Jack Simmons (St. Johns/Houston, Texas) fed Ashley Masucci (Central Catholic/Windham, N.H.) in the middle of the fan for a 12-10 lead with 5:12 left in regulation.

Nimeskern drove to the cage and dropped a low shot to cut lead back to 12-11 with 3:34 to play.

Westfield regained possession with 20 seconds left in the game in their own defensive end, and after a time out, rushed the ball up field, with Nimeskern getting off a near point-blank shot that was deflected wide of the net by Allison Kaslow (Newsome, Lithia, Fla.) as time expired.

Young finished with five goals and an assist for the Engineers. Notorangelo added four goals. Eva Boal (West Windsor-Plainsboro/Princeton Jct., N.J.) had a strong day in goal for the Engineers, finishing with 15 saves while facing 37 total shots from the Owls.

For the Owls, Coyle finished with four goals and an assist, while Tonelli and Nimeskern added a pair of goals each. Caroline Arket (Arlington/Pouquag, N.Y.) picked up five ground balls in the defensive end. Maria Woodall (King Phillip/Norfolk, Mass.) made six saves for the Owls.

Westfield State is now 11-2 on the season. The Owls will host a crucial MASCAC conference game on Tuesday night, as they face Framingham State, the only other unbeaten team in conference play.

MIT is now 7-5 on the season and will next travel to Emerson College on Wednesday, April 18.