Buchanan, Black Help Owls Roar Past Lyons, 16-7

WESTFIELD, Mass.  –   Westfield State's Mykenzie Black (Hopedale, Mass.) and Kylie Buchanan (Westfield, Mass.) each scored four goals to lead the way, as the Owls pulled away for a 16-7 win over Wheaton College in a non-conference women's lacrosse game at Alumni Field on Friday night.

Westfield State improves to 4-3 on the season, while the Lyons are now 4-4.

Westfield led just 4-3 after a goal from Wheaton's Abagail Mountain (Niantic, Conn.) with 7:33 left in the first quarter, but from there Westfield scored the next six goals in the game to hold a 10-3 lead after Mercedes Rozzi (S. Burlington, Vt.) fed Emma Prattson (Tolland, Conn.) for a man-up goal with 7:00 left in the second quarter. 

Westfield led 11-4 at the half, and 13-4 after three quarters of play.

Sydney Smith (Dalton, Mass.) (8 saves) and Kara Banagan (Niskayuna, NY) (10 saves) split the game in goal for the Owls.    Megan Bailey (Quincy, Mass.) added two goals and an assist, and Prattson and Kiely Hafensteiner (Niskayuna, NY) each had a goal and two assists for Westfield.

Wheaton was led by two goals each from Jessica Chamberlain (Bow, NH) and Avonlea LeBeau (N. Branford, Conn).

The Lyons got two saves from starting goalkeeper Jessica Geis  (Duxbury, Mass.) in 39 minutes of play.

Shots were nearly even as Wheaton led 31-30. The Lyons had a 18-9 advantage in draw controls, bute Westfield picked up 18 ground balls to the Lyons 10.

Westfield will be on the road for their next three games.  The Owls will next play at #20 Amherst College on Tuesday, March 26 with a 6:00 p.m. start