Late Rally Falls Short for Women’s Lacrosse at Elms

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Senior Amber Jordan (Auburn, N.Y.) led the Wells College women's lacrosse team with three goals on Wednesday as the Express fell to Elms College by a 14-12 margin in the season opener. Wells falls to 0-1 on the young season while the Blazers move to 1-0 overall. 

Jordan scored three goals while senior Lexie Roberson (Lewisville, N.C.), freshman Mackenzie Maloney (Huntington Station, N.Y.) and senior Lindsay Achzet (Johnstown, N.Y.) each scored twice. Junior Ciara Tallman (Cortland, N.Y.) tied Maloney for the team lead with five ground balls while Roberson controlled a team-leading three draws. 

With Wells trailing by a 9-5 score at halftime, the Blazers rattled off three-straight goals to create a sizeable lead, 12-5, with 21:15 to go in regulation time. The Express, however, were sparked by a free position goal by Achzet that ultimately led to a run where Wells scored six of the game's next seven goals. During that stretch, Achzet, Roberson, senior Andrea Gould (Fulton, N.Y.) and Maloney scored free position goals consecutively. 

Following unassisted goals from Achzet and Maloney, the Express trailed by a 13-11 score with 6:33 remaining in regulation time. Elms and Wells traded goals during an 18-second span with under five minutes to go, but both teams combined for three turnovers and two missed shots down the stretch to maintain what would prove to be the final score of 14-12. 

Wells outshot the Blazers by a 29-to-25 margin and held advantages in ground balls (20-to-18) and free position goals (5-to-0) while committing fewer turnovers. Elms, however, picked up 17 of the game's 27 draw controls and posted double-digit save totals in goal. 

Express goalkeeper Quinn Doubet (Virgil, N.Y.) made five saves for Wells, drawing the loss after allowing 14 goals. Elms backstop Meeghan O'Connor made 11 saves on 23 shots faced, earning the victory for her team. 

Wells will play in the first-ever contest on the new artificial turf field next Tuesday, Mar. 8 as it welcomes the Highlanders from Houghton College for a 3 p.m. contest in Aurora.