NEWTON, Mass. – The Mount Ida College women's lacrosse team fell in their 2016 season opener on Saturday afternoon on Alumni Field by a final score of 20-5 at the hands of Regis College.
With the setback, the Mustangs drop to 1-2 on the season while Regis improves to 2-0 on the year.
The Mustangs were led offensively by Alyssa Kelly (Lee, Mass.) who padded two more goals to her collegiate resume as she has now scored two or more goals in all three contests this season. Nicole Pavao (Peabody, Mass.), Samantha Basler (Plymouth, Mass.) and Co-captain Brian Barker (Westerly, R.I.) each tallied goals for the Mustangs, all of which were unassisted.
Senior attack Sam Salamone (Milford, Mass.) had a dominating performance for the visitors in which she tallied a game-high six goals to go along with two assists and eight points in the non-conference clash between local foes. Sophomore Nicole Roche (Waltham, Mass.) recorded a hat trick for the Pride while teammates Arianna Woodley (Norwood, Mass.), Taylor Assarian (Arlington, Mass.) and Malorie Kiehl (Burlington, Mass.) all put away two goals of their own while Woodley also dished out two dimes.
Emily Kosak (Milton, Mass.), Sierra Luce (Hartford, Vt.), Mary Roma (Portland, Me.) and Julia Jones (Revere, Mass.) each tickled the twine once in the victory.
The Pride took control of the game as Salamone scored four of the game's first eight goals while putting her team up 7-1 at the 17:52 mark of the opening half. Assarian added to the visitors lead just over three minutes later when Salamone found the freshman's stick in front of Mount Ida keeper Jackie Tarsook (Derry, N.H.).
Kelly cut into the Regis lead at the 11:48 mark of the half before Salamone tallied her fifth and sixth goals of the game while Assarian extended the lead to nine for the Pride at 11-2.
Regis tallied three of the next four goals of the half before Pavao knocked home her eighth of the season for the Mustangs with 1:27 remaining on the clock. The final minutes of the half would wind down without a score as Regis was in control at 14-3.
Jones opened the second half scoring for the Pride on an unassisted tally before Barker put home her fourth tally of the season. Roche, Kiehl (2), Linsay Bumila (Raynham, Mass.) and Woodley all cashed in five of the next six goals in the second half while Kelly notched her Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) leading 14th goal of the season with 3:24 remaining in the game.
The Regis defense would hold the Mustangs at bay for the remaining three-plus minutes of the second stanza while Pride keeper Emma Decker (Southborough, Mass.) (6 saves) picked up the win. Tarsook (3 saves) took the loss for Mount Ida as she drops to 1-2 on the season.
The Pride outshot the Mustangs 31-14 while also picking up five more ground balls than Mount Ida at 16-11. Regis went 13-15 on clear attempts while the home team was 7 for 11. Both teams would turn the ball over a total of 15 times throughout the match.
Mount Ida is back in action a week from now when they travel to Little East Conference (LEC) member UMass-Dartmouth on March 19th with game time set for 1:00 PM. The Pride will return to the field this coming Wednesday when they travel to Wellesley College for a 4:00 PM game.
Release Courtesy of Mt. Ida College Sports Information