BOSTON, Mass. – Junior Alissa Cirio (Valhalla, N.Y.) scored three goals and added an assist to help pace the Wentworth Institute of Technology women's lacrosse team to a 12-8 victory over Wheelock Tuesday evening at the Winsor School.
Winners of two straight, the Leopards improve to 2-3 on the season and match the total win output produced by the 2016 squad. The Wildcats drop their season opener.
Sophomores Leah Cummins (Plymouth, Mass.) and Brooke Paradis (Pelham, N.H.) and Cirio gave Wentworth a 3-0 lead, scoring a goal apiece in the first 9:32. Wheelock cut the lead to 3-1 on a sophomore Colleen MacDonald (Sandwich, Mass.) goal with 18:10 left. After Cirio converted a free position shot to make it 4-1, the Wildcats scored three of the next four goals to make it 5-4 after MacDonald scored with 6:55 remaining. Freshman Julie Dam (Milford, Mass.) rounded out the first half scoring with a goal which made it 6-4 with just under two minutes remaining.
Two goals in a span of 17 seconds tied the game for the hosts, however nine minutes later freshman Shannon Sturtz (Littleton, Mass.) gave Wentworth the lead back. MacDonald converted a free position shot with 15:13 left to make it 7-7 but Dam scored twice in 51 seconds to put the Black & Gold on top, 9-7. Sturtz followed with a goal which increased the lead to 10-7 before a free position shot from MacDonald brought Wheelock back within two. However, that would be as close as the hosts would come as Sturtz and Cirio rounded out the scoring.
In addition to Cirio's four-point night, Sturtz and Dam had three goals each while Paraid scored twice and won seven draw controls. Cummins scooped up five ground balls and junior Courtney McCormick (Hanson, Mass.) caused three turnovers.
MacDonald had five goals to pace the Wildcats and also won six draw controls.
Junior Haley Sabino (Topsfield, Mass.) made 10 saves to pick up her second victory of the season (2-1). Senior Meghan Lewis (South Berwick, Maine) made 21 saves in a losing effort. Wentworth had a 43-26 shot advantage as well as a 28-19 edge in ground balls. The teams each won 11 draw controls.
The Leopards are at New England College on Thursday.
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