Owls Open Year with 13-9 Win Over Mount Holyoke

WESTFIELD Mass. - Westfield State seniors Sidney Lambert (Hanover, Mass.) and Alexa Tonelli (Shrewsbury Mass.) combined for 10 points to lead Westfield State to a 13-9 victory over Mount Holyoke College on Tuesday afternoon.

The win is the Owls first of the season (1-0), while Mount Holyoke moves to 1-2 to begin the year.

Lambert got the scoring started early with an unassisted goal just one minute into the game. She would go on to finish with five goals, while Tonelli would finish with two goals to go along with three assists. 

Mount Holyoke freshman Ally Baldwin (Florence, Mass.) evened the score just eight minutes later with a goal of her own, assisted by fellow freshman Allie Brown. (Burlington, Vt) 

Freshman Kelly Gearin (Lunenburg, Mass.) came back to net the first goal of her collegiate career to put the Owls back on top 2-1 at 15:06 in the first half. 

Baldwin responded by scoring back to back goals within 30 seconds of each other to give the Lyons their first and only lead of the game, 3-2 at 11:51. 

Tonelli, senior Elizabeth Navoni (Mansfield Mass.), and junior Rachel Gelina (Westfield Mass.) all netted goals to end the first half and send Westfield into the break with a 5-3 advantage. 

Lambert came out of the locker room on fire, scoring two goals within the first three minutes to give Westfield a 7-3 cushion. 

Mount Holyoke senior Haley Subocz (Northampton Mass.) brought the Lyons within two (10-8) with 14 minutes to play on a strong coast to coast goal, but that was as close as they would get it. 

Westfield responded with three straight goals to officially put the game out of reach.

Baldwin finished with five goals to give her 14 on the season in just three games for the Lyons, in what has been a stellar start to her freshman year.

Senior Deyscha Smith and freshman Allie Brown (Burlington, Vt) also tallied goals for Mount Holyoke in the loss.

Lyons  goalie Mia Wysocki (Longmeadow Mass.) finished with 8 saves in the loss, while senior goalie Maria Woodall (Norfolk Mass.) had 13 saves in the win, finishing with a 0.591 save percentage for Westfield. 

Westfield State is back at it with another home game on Thursday, March 7th in a matchup against Western New England University.

-- written by Nick Dolan, Sports Information Intern