NORTON, Mass. – The University of Southern Maine women's lacrosse team suffered a hard-fought 10-9 toss to Wheaton College on Sunday afternoon. Wheaton's Brooke Harvey scored the game-winning goal with just 17 seconds left in the fourth quarter to give the Lyons the win. Graduate student Rachel Shanks (Naples, Maine/Lake Region) recorded three points for the Huskies with three goals and an assist.
 
When and Where: March 5, 2023 – Norton, Mass – Nordin Field
 
The Records: Wheaton: 3-1; Southern Maine: 0-3
 
The Goalies: 
Wheaton: Emily Oundjian: 2-1, 15 saves, nine goals allowed, .625 save percentage.  
USM: Cece Racine (Lewiston, Maine): 0-2, 10 saves, 10 goals allowed, .500 save percentage.
 
How It Happened:

• Freshman Cierra Hill (Pembroke, N.H./Pembroke Academy), sophomore Anna Byers (Milford, Ct./ Joseph A. Foran) and Shanks recorded goals in the first quarter to help the Huskies to a 3-1 lead. Shanks also assisted on the goal by Byers.
• The Lyons responded with five goals in the second quarter and allowed just one to sophomore Emily Cloutier (Brunswick, Maine) to take a 6-4 lead into halftime. Abigail Mountain scored two of Wheaton's goals in the quarter.
• Each team scored twice in the third with both of Wheaton's goals coming from Brooke Harvey. Southern Maine's Maddie Kinney (Topsham, Maine/ Mt. Ararat) scored the first goal of her career during the quarter.  
• Kinney got the Huskies to within a goal early in the fourth before Harvey scored to make it 9-7. The Huskies then tied the game with two goals in less than a minute. Freshman Molly Black (Windham, Maine) scored her first collegiate goal and Shanks tied the game with a free position goal while the Huskies were a man-up. Shanks' goal tied the game with 5:30 left to play.
• Sophie Gromala connected with Harvey for the game-winner with just 17 ticks left on the game clock to allow the Lyons to escape with a victory.

Inside The Stats:

• Battaglia Harvey led all players with five goals and tied with Gromala for the most points after the latter assisted on four goals and scored one for her own.
• Shanks had the only assist of the game for Southern Maine.
• Byers and sophomore Julia McKenna (Windham, Maine) each won five draw controls for Southern Maine. The Lyons were led by Avonlea LeBeau with five and Harvey with four.
• Wheaton held the advantage in ground balls at 19-11.

Up Next: The next contest for the Huskies will be on Monday, March 13 when they host New England College at Hannaford Field at 4PM.