Women's LAX Nets Nine in Loss at Elms

 
CHICOPEE, Mass. ­­­- The Mitchell College women's lacrosse team dropped its New England Collegiate Conference opener at Elms College on Tuesday afternoon by a 22-9 final at Leary Field.
 
The Blazers (3-4 overall, 1-0 NECC) wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as Kayla Narey took a feed from Jillian Pirog and placed a shot past Mitchell goalie Taylor Dansereau for a 1-0 lead in the opening 30 seconds of play. Elms then pushed the lead to 2-0 with an unassisted strike from Pirog at the 24:25 mark.

The Mariners cut the deficit to 2-1 as Ashley Murtha sliced through the Blazers defense and fired a shot to the low-right side of the net. Elms responded less than minute later as Pirog converted off a pass from Haley Roberts, followed by an unassisted tally from Nora McDonough to give Elms a 4-1 lead with 21:26 to play.
 
Mitchell rallied back behind goals from Murtha and Tiana Fillmore to cut the Blazers' advantage to 5-3 with 17:25 remaining in the half. However, Elms pulled away over the next eight minutes behind five straight goals--including a pair from McDonough and Pirog--to rebuild a 10-3 lead.

Murtha registered a hat trick with a free position tally in the 22nd minute. The Blazers then exploded for six goals during the final five minutes, getting two scores from Pirog and Victoria-Lynn Smith to take a 16-4 lead into halftime.
 
Elms opened the scoring in the second half on a strike from Pirog at the 27:59 mark. A pair of goals from Murtha sandwiched strikes from Roberts and Jackie Soucia to make it 20-6 game with 13:29 to play. Soucia and McDonough recorded back-to-back tallies to extend the Blazers' lead to 22-6 at with 7:52 remaining. The Mariners netted three goals in the final seven minutes of play with a pair from Murtha and a strike from Vannessa Ortiz, the first goal of her collegiate career.
 
The Blazers outshot the Mariners 37-21 in the contest. Mitchell won the draw control battle (19-10) and held an edge in ground balls (46-36) while Elms caused more turnovers (17-5).
 
Pirog and McDonough led the way for the Blazers with seven goals apiece. Pirog added a pair of assists while McDonough contributed one helper. Soucia, Smith, and Ashley Cava each scored two goals, with Cava adding a pair of assists. Roberts dished out a game-high three assists to go with her first career goal.

Murtha netted a season-high seven goals for Mitchell while Ortiz and Fillmore each chipped in with a tally. Dansereau stopped eight shots in goal for the Mariners.
 
Mitchell will next travel to Massachusetts Maritime Academy on Thursday, April 2 at 7 p.m.