Wellesley, Mass. - March 25, 2015 - The Springfield College women's lacrosse program opened its New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) schedule with a victory over Wellesley College, 10-5, on Wednesday afternoon at the Wellesley Outdoor Fields Complex.

With the win, Springfield has gotten off to its best start since the 2009 season and best under the direction of head coach Kristen Mullady, as it now boasts a record of 7-2 on the year, including a 1-0 record in NEWMAC play, while the Blue fall to 3-1 overall and 0-1 in league action.

The Pride was paced by senior attack Michelle Dorsey (Wilbraham, Mass.) who posted three goals and a team-high three draw controls, while junior attack Bianca Raniolo (Yorktown, N.Y.) registered a pair of goals in the victory. In net, sophomore Gabriella Anderson (Mahopac, N.Y.) and Carley Elkin (Guilford, Conn.) split halves, and each made five saves.

Springfield dominated a majority of the statistical categories in the game as it held the edge in groundballs (28-25), shots (20-18) and draw controls (12-5), while also going 11-for-13 on clears.

For the Blue, Courtney Peterson (Glastonbury, Conn.) notched a pair of goals in the loss, while sophomore goalkeeper Wendy Nettleton (La Jolla, Calif.) made four stops and suffered her first setback of the season.

Springfield struck three times in the opening 5:21 of the first half, as senior midfielder Olivia Cabral (Sayville, N.Y.) found the back of the net just 2:53 into the contest to give the Pride a 1-0 edge, before Raniolo capitalized on a free-position chance and junior midfielder Heather Raniolo (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) netted a shot to give the Pride an early 3-0 lead.

After Meghan Peterson (Glastonbury, Conn.) netted a feed from Courtney Peterson to get the Blue on the board, Springfield rattled off three more goals, including a goal from freshman Shelby Corsano (Bourne, Mass.), who finished off an assist from Bianca Raniolo and a pair more from Dorsey to give the Pride a 6-1 lead.

Claire Canty (East Rockaway, N.J.) buried a free-position shot with 3:03 left in the opening stanza to make it 6-2 heading into the halftime beak.

Graduate student Kerstin Lindrooth (Bryn Athyn, Pa.) found twine just 4:52 into the second half to spark another three-goal spurt from Springfield, as freshman Kayla Schroeher (Riverhead, N.Y.) posted her first-career goal after she pumped in a feed from Colleen Keeley (Agawam, Mass.), with Bianca Raniolo following suit, finishing off another pass from Keeley at the 15:53 mark to give the Pride a 9-2 advantage.

Once Courtney Peterson scored with 12:38 left in the game, Dorsey finished off her hat trick to help the Pride regain its seven-point lead, before Wellesley closed out the game with a pair of goals from Courtney Peterson and Jenny Gubner (Pleasenton, Calif.).

Up next, the Pride will travel to Cambridge, Mass. to take on MIT in another NEWMAC tilt at 1 p.m.