NEWTON, Mass. - In the opening contest of the 2013 season, the Mount Ida College women's lacrosse team trailed 5-4 at the nine minute mark in the first half only to see their chances for a victory slip away surrendering the next 10 goals to visiting non-league opponent Curry College en route to a 20-7 loss Tuesday afternoon on Alumni Field in Newton, Massachusetts.
Key turnovers (25) by the Mustangs in the defensive zone led to the bulk of the Colonel scores aiding in the loss. The hosts struggled clearing the ball going 11-24 for the game while the visitors were a near perfect 9-11.
Mount Ida, who drops their first contest of the season (0-1) under the direction of first year Head Coach Nicole Poli, will host non-conference UMASS-Dartmouth Thursday afternoon with game time slated for 3:30 p.m. The visitors capture their first win of the year after an opening loss to Lasell College over the weekend improving to 1-1 for 2013 and will head to West Palm Beach, Florida over spring break with match-ups scheduled against Becker College and Fitchburg State University. Neither team has yet to play in conference action.
The Mustangs were led offensively by 2012 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Rookie-of-the-Year Amanda Bowen (Randolph, VT/Randolph Union) with three goals and four ground balls. Senior captain Alexandria Milot (Tiverton, RI/Tiverton) recorded two scores and a dish with a game-high five caused turnovers and six pick-ups. Sophomore attacker Kaitlyn Affhauser (Cheshire, MA/Hoosac) and freshman Maile Melvin (Hebron, CT/RHAM) notched a goal each with Affhauser chipping in an assist as well.
Junior's Haley Carey (New Milford, CT/New Milford) and Deanna Monfredo (West Islip, NY/West Islip) commanded the offensive side for the Colonels with five goals each to lead the contest overall. Junior midfielder Mel Brickey (Chelmsford, MA/Chelmsford) added four goals and a game-high 13 ground balls while senior attacker Ana Bottary (Hull, MA/Hull) notched three scores and five dishes respectively.
After an opening goal (1-3) from Mount Ida's Milot off a free position attempt, Curry went on to record the next three attempts on bids from Bottary, Monfredo and Carey taking the 3-1 advantage at the 17 minute mark in the first stanza.
The Mustangs countered with two goals in a three minute span (13:25) immediately following on tallies from Melvin and Bowen knotting the game at 3-3.
Brickey and Bottary notched the next two scores, both unassisted bids, pulling ahead 5-3 with 10:34 remaining before the midway point.
Mount Ida came within one score (5-4) with 8:54 to go before the break on Affhauser's only goal of the contest.
This would be as close as the Mustangs would get surrendering the next 10 goals from the 4:38 mark in the first frame finished off with 26:41 left in the second half finalized on a successful eight meter attempt by freshman Felicia Vieira (Bristol, RI/Mount Hope) to lead 15-4.
The hosts deposited the next two scores on bids from Bowen and Milot at the 23:13 mark still trailing by a large margin down 15-5.
Curry added the next five scores through the next 11 minutes (9:30) to surge ahead by a commanding 20-6 lead capped on an unassisted bid by Carey.
Mount Ida was able to tally the final goal of the contest scored by Bowen off a feed from Milot to round out the 20-7 loss for the hosts.
Senior net minder Kayla Musty (Topsham, VT/Oxbow) saw all 60 minutes between the pipes for the Mustangs recording 13 saves with a team-high nine ground balls while Colonel sophomore goaltender Christina Wallis (Peabody, MA/Essex Agricultural) saw nearly the entire contest being pulled with five ticks remaining stopping three host shots. Freshman Kelton Vuilleumier (Duxbury, MA/Duxbury) saved two shots. (Game Recap Courtesy of Mount Ida Sports Information)
