Late Strike By Bass Elevates Women’s Lacrosse To 7-6 Victory

HOUGHTON, N.Y. – Senior Madeline Bass (Lemon Grove, Calif.) scored the go-ahead goal with only 15 seconds remaining in regulation time as the Wells College women's lacrosse team posted a 7-6 victory over the Highlanders of Houghton College at Burke Field Wednesday evening. With the non-conference victory, the Express improve to 1-1 overall on the season while the host Highlanders fall to 0-4 in the midst of their first varsity season as a program.

With the victory, first year Head Coach Kylie Hrehor earns her first collegiate victory as bench boss of the Express. Wells also posts their first victory dating back to Apr. 7, 2012, a 19-8 victory over the Screaming Eagles of the College of Saint Elizabeth. The Express also snap an eight game losing streak with the victory.

As time wound down in the second half, the Express were able to force a turnover by the Highlanders to regain possession of the ball. Sophomore Marina Fargnoli (Apalachin, N.Y.) was able to pressure the ball away from Hannah Zgrablich with 1:38 remaining in the second half and collect a ground ball on the play. Carrying the ball toward goal, Fargnoli ripped a shot that was initially turned aside by Houghton goalkeeper Lauren Niswander.

The Express regained possession down the stretch and, with 15 seconds remaining on the clock, Bass fired a shot on goal that was initially halted by Niswander. The rebound, however, was not corralled and was bumped into the net to grant Wells their first victory of the season.

Junior Savannah Tucker (Rochester, N.Y.) and her two goals late in the first half were able to grant the Express a 4-3 lead entering halftime. Trailing 3-2, Tucker scored goals with 5:22 remaining and 1:23 remaining to provide momentum coming out of the half. Fargnoli's unassisted strike only 1:30 into the game elevated Wells to a 1-0 lead. Following a Tyler Reese strike by Houghton, Bass scored her first goal of the game to place Wells ahead 2-1 with 24:08 remaining in the first.

Trailing 5-3 following early second period strikes from Nicole Mason and Rachel Stefanski, freshman attack Andrea Gould (Fulton, N.Y.) stepped up with her first collegiate goal with 12:06 remaining in the second half, converting on a free position attempt to tie the score at five goals aside. With 8:56 remaining in regulation time, Maesa Phongsamouth forced home a feed from Mason to place Houghton out in front by a 6-5 margin. Tucker recorded her fifth career hat trick to tie the score with 4:38 remaining, setting up Bass' heroics in the final ticks of the game.

Tucker led the way with three caused turnovers and eight ground balls to her credit, tying with Bass for the team lead in the latter category. Fargnoli posted six ground balls and also caused two Houghton turnovers. As a team, Wells outshot the hosts by a 27-20 margin and scooped up 36 ground balls as opposed to the Highlanders' 30. The Express' 36 ground balls are the second-highest team total since the start of the 2009 women's lacrosse season.

For the Express, goalkeeper Chelsea Dann (Flagstaff, Ariz.) collected her first collegiate victory between the pipes, halting 3-of-9 shots on goal. Niswander stood tall at the start, yielding seven goals on 18 shots on net, but was saddled with the loss.

The Express return to action Saturday, Mar. 23 as they face-off against the Kangaroos of SUNY Canton in a 1:00 p.m. road contest. Stay up to date with the latest news directly from the Wells College athletic department by "liking" us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/WellsExpress) and subscribing to our Twitter account (http://www.twitter.com/WellsExpress).