NEWTON, MA – Mount Ida College (5-4, 2-1 GNAC) defeated Saint Joseph's (3-2, 0-2 GNAC), 16-13, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference women's lacrosse contest on Sunday afternoon. Amelia Santos '12 (Beverly, MA) registered four goals and two assists in the conference setback.

The Monks opened up the scoring with the first two goals of the contest from Santos and senior Alyssa Marchant (Wakefield, MA/Wakefield) for the 2-0 lead through the first four minutes of the opening half. 

The Mustangs responded reeling off the next five scores to take their first advantage of the contest up 5-2 after the run starting with a senior captain Danielle Chuba (Wrightstown, NJ/Northern Burlington Regional) unassisted goal (2-1).

Senior Alexandra Sarno (East Patchogue, NY/Bellport) fired in the next goal on a dish from senior Kira Feeter (Keene, NH/Keene) knotting the score at 2-2. Thompson notched the next two on a free position attempt and the other off a feed from senior Becky Tisbert (Cambridge, VT/Lamoille Union).  Freshman Ebony Mills (Harrison, ME/Oxford Hills) finished the rally on an unassisted bid for the commanding 5-2 lead.

The Monks finally answered with another Santos tally at the 21 minute mark pulling within two goals trailing 5-3.  Mount Ida didn't waste much time continuing their offensive strike rallying three straight goals on scores from Mills and Thompson coming on two unassisted scores and another on a successful free position attempt from Thompson for the commanding 8-3 lead.

St. Joe's stopped the bleeding momentarily on another unassisted bid from Santos with six minutes to go before the midway point making it 8-4 Mustangs.

Three more scores by Mount Ida ensued with another two from Thompson on a free position goal and another on a dish from Sarno up 9-4.  Chuba would get in on the offense again for her second and final goal of the contest leading 10-4 with on a couple minutes on the clock.

The visitors scored the final goal of the first stanza on sophomore Emily Wight's (Westbrook, ME/Westbrook) only tally of the contest cutting the host advantage to 11-5 heading into the break.

Mount Ida notched the first two scores of the second half starting with a successful free position attempt by Mills followed by an unassisted goal by senior Jeileen Rivera (Springfield, MA/Springfield Central) for her first tally of the year up 13-5 with 27 minutes to go.

The Monks started their comeback scoring the next four goals, two on converted free position attempts from Santos and freshman Anneka Adame (San Diego, CA/Cathedral Catholic), one on an unassisted bid by junior Megan Cutter (Westbrook, ME/Westbrook), and the final tally of the run on a Marchant goal from Santos trailing 13-9.

The Mustangs answered with two more scores; the first on an unassisted score from Thompson and the other on a successful free position from Mills leading 15-9 with just under 12 minutes remaining in the contest.

Saint Joseph's would not back off with freshman Cassie Diplock (Augusta, ME/Cony) leading the charge scoring three straight goals, two unassisted and the other on a free position, pulling within three goals (15-12).  Monk junior Allyson Woods (Portland, ME/Catherine McAuley) finished the four goal run with an unassisted bid trailing by two (15-13) with under two minutes to go in the game.

The Mustangs would not let the visitors back in converting the final possession of the game on Thompson eighth and final score of the contest on a dish from freshman Molly Sheppard (Brookhaven, NY/Bellport) for the 16-13 advantage and ultimately the GNAC win.

The Mustangs led in most of the statistical categories including groundballs (36-34) and draw controls (18-12).

Mount Ida netminder Katherine Chousa (Norwood, MA/Norwood) was outstanding down the stretch with a surging offense by the visitors notching 11 saves and five key stops with fewer than five minutes to go.  Monks junior goaltender Taylor Allison (Pawtucket, RI/St. Mary Academy-Bay View) stopped eight Mustang shots.

The Mustangs will host non-league Becker College tomorrow with game time slated for 4:00 PM. Saint Joseph's will host GNAC-rival Lasell College at Deering Memorial Stadium on Thursday at 4:00 PM.

COURTESY OF MOUNT IDA COLLEGE SPORTS INFORMATION