WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- The Mount Greylock girls lacrosse team defeated Mount Anthony Union Friday evening 15-9, tallying their first win ever against the visitors from Bennington, Vt.
The Mounties got an early lead in the first half outshooting the Patriots, 15-10, and holding an 11-2 advantage going into the second half.
Sam MacWhinnie, the Mount Greylock goalie, totaled 11 saves for the evening, seven of which were made in the first half.
"She comes up big in our big games," Mount Greylock coach Lindsey von Holtz said. "She had some huge saves, there was one point at the end of the first half when they were starting to come back and she had four saves within 30 seconds, she was stepping out well, talking well, and she was able to get to the balls quickly; which without those saves this would have been a different game."
Senior Sarah Stripp put in five goals in the first, Emma Polumbo had three, Caroline Flynn had two, and Lucy Barrett had one.
Mount Anthony came out in the second half and put in two goals within the first five minutes. Mount Greylock responded with a goal from Arianna Walden to make it 12-4, but Mount Anthony didn't back down.
The Pats scored four straight goals to put the score at 12-8 with six minutes, twenty-eight seconds to go.
"MAU is an incredibly strong team, we came into this game knowing that," Van Holtz said. "We came in expecting competition, especially because we've played them the last three years and have never beat them."
"Second half, we sat back a little unfortunately, because it was 11-2 and normally that means you're slowing down, but against a team like this that is not the case."
Mount Anthony came out and won the first five draws, which led to their quick goals, but Greylock was able to string a few together in the final five minutes adding three more goals, one from Polumbo and two from Barrett.
The Mounties allowed Mount Anthony one more with 2:28 remaining, but Greylock was able to hold them out until the end.
Greylock now advances to 13-1. It faces another Vermont foe, Manchester's Burr and Burton Academy, on Monday at 4 p.m. on John T. Allen Field.