Springfield, Mass. - March 1, 2023 - The Springfield College women's lacrosse team dropped a 12-5 decision to nationally-ranked Amherst on Tuesday nighat at Stagg Field.

The Mammoths, ranked No. 24 in the most recent IWLCA Poll, improved to 2-0, while the Pride fell to 1-2. 

Arielle Johnson (Woodstock, Conn.) scored three times for the Pride, Hannah Hibbert (Center Harbor, N.H) snagged five draw controls, and Haley Moody (Wells, Maine) made four stops in three quarters of action. For the visitors, Jessye Salmon produced nine saves in goal en route to the victory, while Clara Sosa totaled four points, including three goals, Emily Petersen added three stikes of her own, and Sydney Larsen collected three assists.  Springfield had a 26-24 advantage in shots for the game and won 11 of the game's 20 draws.

Amherst opened up the scoring inside the opening minute of a strike by Sosa, only to have Springfield answer back on an unassisted marker by Arielle Johnson at 13:38.  The Mammoths won the ensuing draw and Sydney Kang pumped in strike just eight seconds later to go ahead for good, and would push their lead to 4-1 after 15 minutes of play on goals from Bridget Finley and Peterson.

Springfield netted the first goal of the second quarter with 11:26 left in the frame as Sarah Newton (Colchester, Conn.) found Lilly Vey (Foxboro, Mass.) all alone in front of the net to make it a 4-2 game.  After Amherst used another quick answer, this time just only 23 seconds later, on Peterson's second marker of the contest to push the lead back to three, Arielle Johnson would close out of the first-half scoring as she ripped a Lily Johnson (Oceanside, Calif.) feed for a man-advantage goal at 6:35.  Springfield held an 18-10 advantage in shots in the opening 30 minutes of play, but Salmon answered the call with six stops. 

Amherst broke open the game by scoring seven unanswered goals in a 25-plus minute span to extend its lead to 12-3 with 4:34 left in regulation.  The Mammoths would score five times off seven shots in the third quarter, getting a pair of goals from Sosa, before both Newton and Johnson would score in the final 2:18 of the game to close out the scoring for the Pride. 

Springfield will play again on Friday when it travels to New Jersey to take on Stevens.

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