WORCESTER, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke College lacrosse team held Clark University to four second-half goals in a fine defensive effort, but the Lyons were limited to five goals by the host Cougars for the second straight year, and Clark came away with a 14-5 NEWMAC win on Sunday afternoon.
The win keeps Clark (5-9, 3-5 NEWMAC) in seventh place in the conference standings, while Mount Holyoke (3-10, 1-6) is tied with Salve Regina for eighth place. The Lyons will host Salve Regina on Wednesday at 6pm.
Mount Holyoke held Clark to three goals in the first quarter, but didn't put its first goal on the scoreboard until midway through the second quarter, when junior Emi Bisson's (Chester, Conn.) unassisted goal snapped a string of six straight goals by the Cougars.
Clark added three goals to its lead in a high-scoring second quarter before the Lyons made it 9-2 with 1:38 left in the half, with Bisson feeding first-year Juliana Spaulding (Wakefield, Mass.) for her team-high 34th goal of the season, and Bisson's team-high 24th assist.
After Meghan Fogarty made it 10-2 for Clark 32 seconds before halftime, the Cougars were held to just one goal over a span of more than 24 minutes by the Lyons: Aubrey Conners' third-quarter goal. Mount Holyoke scored two goals of its own during that time, closing the gap to 11-4: first-year Josie McFadden (Edmonton, Alberta) scored for the second straight game with a feed from Spaulding late in the third quarter, followed by Spaulding's unassisted tally early in the fourth.
But with 6:15 left in the game, Sarah Forrester scored for Clark with an assist from Sydney McMonagle, and the Cougars finished the game with a 3-1 run, interrupted only by Spaulding's 36th goal on Bisson's 25th assist with 5:26 left in the game.
Spaulding also led the Lyons with three caused turnovers, seven draw controls and five ground balls.
First-year goalie Valeria Bolanos (Newington, Conn.) made a career-high 17 saves, helping to offset a 44-20 Cougars advantage in shots. Annie Battle made 12 saves for Clark.
