BOSTON, Mass. – Junior Miranda Tinsman (Belgrade, Maine) had four goals and two assists and sophomore Jennifer Day (Gardner, Maine) added four goals and an assist as the Thomas College women's lacrosse team held on for a 16-14, non-conference victory over Wentworth.
Junior Jillian Lambert (Dayton, Maine) won the opening draw and gave the Terriers a 1-0 lead just 10 seconds into the contest. Thomas extended its lead to 2-0 just over three minutes later on a goal from freshman Erin Nelligan (Walpole, Mass.).
The Leopards tied the game at 2-all by scoring two goals in less than a minute. Sophomore Jessica Houghton (Billerica, Mass.) scored with 26:32 left and senior Meg Ferro (Syracuse, N.Y.) scored with 25:37 left. However, Thomas answered with goals from sophomore Brittany Premo (Concord, N.H.) and senior Jasmine Ryan (Berwick, Maine) to take a 4-2 lead with 20:39 left.
Wentworth scored three straight as Houghton, senior Liv Gardner (Westford, Mass.) and sophomore Julie Azzinaro (Westerly, R.I.) gave the hosts a 5-4 edge. Gardner and Azzinaro's markers were while the Black & Gold were down a player.
Day and Nelligan scored around a sophomore Alexandrea Banks (Ellington, Conn.) goal to tie the game at 6-all before the Leopards took a 7-6 lead on a Banks goal with 8:55 left. Thomas went on a 4-0 run to end the half – with two of those goals coming from senior Ceara DiBiase (Westbrook, Maine) – and led 10-7 at the break.
After freshman Khamaree Owens (Waldorf, Md.) put the Terriers ahead by an 11-7 score 38 seconds into the second half, Wentworth scored the next three goals to pull within one as Azzinaro, senior Lisa Piccirillo (Islip, N.Y.), and Houghton scoring. Thomas scored the next two to push the lead to 13-10 and would lead, 14-11, with 13:11 left on a Day marker.
Houghton made it a 14-12 game with her fifth of the game before Tinsman brought the lead back to two with 5:15 left. Azzinaro scored a pair of goals in less than two minutes time – both assisted by Houghton – to pull the Leopards to within 15-14 with 5:15 left.
Thomas was able to control the ball late in the game, denying Wentworth a chance to tie the game and added a man-up goal from Tinsman with six second left to make it a 16-14 final.
Nelligan had two goals and two assists to help the Terrier offense while Premo caused four turnovers, Day won five draws, and Ryan had a pair of caused turnovers and five ground balls. Freshman Brittany Fox (Lowell, Maine) made 12 saves.
Houghton had four goals, two assists, and 13 draw controls to pace the Leopards. Azzinaro added four goals, Piccirillo had two goals and two assists, and Banks had two goals, an assist, and three caused turnovers. Banks and freshman Hayley Patton (Cranston, R.I.) had five ground balls apiece. Patton also made 20 saves.
Thomas held a 43-31 shot advantage and a 34-29 ground ball advantage, while Wentworth had an 18-14 sraw control advantage.
With the win, Thomas improves to 4-3 and hosts Regis on Thursday. Wentworth falls to 1-2 and is at the University of New England on Wednesday.
