Springfield, Mass. – October 15, 2011 – The Springfield College field hockey team dropped a 5-4 shootout to Wheaton College in New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action on Saturday morning on Stagg Field in part of The College’s Homecoming festivities.

With the victory, the Lyons improve to 7-6, 2-3 in league play while the Pride drop to 2-11, 2-3.

The Pride got on the board first just four minutes into the contest. Meghan McHugh gathered the ball in front of the Wheaton net and rifled a shot past Lyons goalie Ellie Massengill for the score.

Wheaton responded midway through the half with its first goal of the game. Off the corner, Emily Asack found Jenna Rocha on the left side and Rocha fired it past Pride goalie Grace Bibber to even the game at one at the 20:13 mark.

Just over seven minutes later, the Lyons took the lead on a Gillian Mann goal. Eliza Kennedy corralled a rebound in front of the Springfield net and flipped a pass to Mann for the LyonsÂ' second score of the game. With less than two minutes left in the first half, Mann struck again. This time, Asack forced a turnover and found the back of the cage to put Wheaton up 3-1 late in the half.

The Pride would respond with a pair of goals to go into the half tied at three. Off a Springfield corner, Kayla Sokol rocketed a pass to Alexa Carlson, who quickly moved the ball to Kelly Gallo. The reigning NEWMAC Player of the Week flipped a goal past Massengill to bring the Pride to within one with 39 seconds remaining.

With no time left on the clock in the first half, Wheaton was whistled for a penalty and Springfield earned another corner. The corner was continued for the last play of the half. This time Carlson found Amy Dean near the top of the arc and Dean fired a shot into the left side of the goal to tie things up.

Springfield would find the back of the cage in the 51st minute as Califano collected a loose ball in front of the cage and buried a shot to give Springfield its first lead since the four-minute mark.

However, the Lyons would not be denied as they answered six minutes later taking advantage of another corner. Asack once again factored into the goal as she connected with Emily Chick to even things up at four-all. Wheaton then took the lead for good as Chick scored once again on a Mann feed in the 63rd minute following a Lyon penalty corner.

Carlson notched two assists in the loss, while Gallo collected a goal and an assist.

For Wheaton, Massengill was credited with seven saves, while Bibber made five for the Pride. Springfield held a 23-15 edge in shots, and a 9-6 advantage in corners.

Springfield will continue conference play on Tuesday when it travels to take on Clark.