Women's Lacrosse Opens Turf Field vs. Houghton

AURORA, N.Y. – In the first-ever game played on the brand-new artificial turf field at Wells College, the Express women's lacrosse team was saddled with a 15-7 loss to non-conference Houghton College on Tuesday. With the loss, Wells falls to 0-2 on the year while the Highlanders net their first victory of the season in their second match.

Houghton jumped out to a 7-0 lead after the game's first 11:41 and never looked back as the tandem of Jennifer Zacchigna and Chandler Jones combined for nine of their team's 15 goals and 11 of the squad's 13 assists. Bartosz, however, scored the first-ever goal for Wells on the new turf field with her free position strike with 15:07 left in the opening half. 

Freshman Julia Smith (Guilderland, N.Y.) potted the first goal of her career with 8:39 left in the opening stanza, but Houghton countered with back-to-back goals down the stretch to create a 10-2 deficit for the hosts at halftime. 

Houghton opened with four-straight goals in the second half, but Wells finished the game with five of the final six goals. Maloney scored unassisted before Bartosz notched her second strike off a feed from junior Jessica Burbank (Stamford, Conn.) with 9:35 remaining in the second half. Down 14-4, senior Andrea Gould (Fulton, N.Y.) and Roberson scored unassisted before senior Amber Jordan (Auburn, N.Y.) scored the final Wells goal with only 18 seconds left. 

Wells goalkeeper Quinn Doubet (Virgil, N.Y.) made two saves on 16 shots faced, drawing the loss, while the duo of Kourtnie Franklin and Alison Clark halted six shots while allowing seven goals combined. 

Houghton held the statistical advantage in shots taken (22-to-19), but Wells collected more ground balls (31-to-25) and was more efficient on clearing attempts. The Express committed more turnovers than Houghton (27-to-26) by a slim margin. 

Wells returns to action Saturday, Mar. 19 as it travels to Elmira College for a non-conference matchup at high noon.