Southern Vermont Women's Lacrosse Edges MCLA
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The visiting Southern Vermont women's lacrosse team received seven goals from Alex Safford as the Mountaineers held off the MCLA Trailblazers 11-9 in a non league match played in a driving rainstorm.
SVC (2-5) came out firing as they quickly moved out to a 5-0 lead over the Trailblazers (1-4). Abigail Landon started the scoring for SVC with a goal at the 26:19 mark for a 1-0 advantage. Safford would then score the next three for the Mountaineers to begin her big night, and when Natalie Rose Canterbury tallied, it was 5-0. The Trailblazers came storming back though as Granito started to assert herself.
She won the draw and sprinted down field and got the Trailblazers on the board with 13:08 left in the half. Her goal triggered a 4-0 MCLA run to pull within 5-4. Rachel Green, Mackenzie Cutler, and Brianna Morris all had goals in the spurt. The two teams would trade a pair of goals as the half closed with SVC clinging to a 7-6 lead.
The Mountaineers extended the margin in the second half to 9-6 as Safford tallied twice. After trading goals and SVC holding a 10-7 lead, MCLA would get within one. Granito converted a nice pass from Cutler for the first goal and then Cutler did it herself to pull MCLA within 10-9, still with over 12 minutes left to play.
SVC would play possession and both teams offenses went stale late in the second half. Finally, with just 1:59 remaining, Safford would convert her final marker of the night to provide some breathing room for the visitors. MCLA couldn't muster up any offense as SVC earned the win.
SVC outshot MCLA 40-21 in the contest and scooped up 27 groundballs compared to 17 for the Trailblazers. Kristiana Goldup earned the win in net stopping 7 shots on the night.
For MCLA, Cutler ended with three goals and three assists. Granito led the team with four goals, but was very effective winning nine draws and picking up three groundballs on the night.
Zoe Elwell absorbed the loss but made 15 saves on the evening for the Trailblazers.
MCLA is back in action on Saturday night at 6 p.m. when it hosts Salem State.
