WOMEN'S LAX ADVANCES TO GNAC SEMIS WITH 9-8 WIN

Behind a three goal performance from junior attacker Jen Thompson (Easton, MD/Easton), the Mount Ida College women's lacrosse captured a 9-8 victory in the quarterfinal round of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) post-season tournament Wednesday evening against hosting Simmons College.  The Mustangs advance to the semifinal round and will travel to Northfield, Vermont to play Norwich University.  Mount Ida fell to the Cadets in the second to last regular season game of the year by a score of 14-9. 

Along with Thompson, the Mustangs were led offensively by freshman Ebony Mills (Harrison, ME/Oxford) and senior Danielle Chuba (Wrightstown, NJ/Northern Burlington Regional) added two goals apiece.  Senior Kira Feeter (Keene, NH/Keen) and freshman Molly Sheppard (Brookhaven, NY/Bellport) netted one each. 

Simmons scored first with a goal from junior Meaghan Maurice (Portland, Maine) less than two minutes into the game, but the Mustangs were quick to answer with an unassisted goal from Ebony Mills (Harrison, ME/Oxford). The Sharks would score twice more to gain what would end up being their final lead of the game. In the last eight minutes of the first half the Mustangs would score four times to end with a 5-3 lead.

Simmons came out fired up in the second half and scored two quick goals to tie it up at 5-5. The Sharks and Mustangs battled back and forth for the remaining 26 minutes of play, but Simmons was unable to gain control of the lead while the Mustangs rode out the small margin victory.

Junior Lee Sutherland (Tuftonboro, N.H.) controlled four draws in the game and freshman Taylor Nisbet (Dartmouth, Mass.) and Seneca Martensson (East Longmeadow, Mass.) would each force three turnovers.

Katherine Chousa (Norwood, MA/Norwood) made eight saves for the Mustangs while sophomore Kelly Last (West Haven, Conn.) tallied 17 saves in the loss for the Sharks.