Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--Tournament Most Outstanding Player Liz Malenfant made 22 saves, and Julia Bell led all scorers with eight points, as visiting Mount Holyoke College captured its first Eastern College Athletic Conference New England Women's Lacrosse Championship on Sunday with a thrilling 17-16 victory over top-seeded Western New England University at Golden Bear Stadium.

The No. 2-seeded Lyons, who were making their fourth ECAC tournament appearance, complete their season with a 13-4 mark. Western New England went from 6-12 last season to 15-6 this spring with a roster comprised of 18 freshmen and sophomores to set a school record for a 7-1/2 game improvement, which is also the third-best turnaround in NCAA Division III history (according to a NCAA source). Western New England also ties the 2012 SUNY Oneonta squad's NCAA record of nine more wins from the previous season, as the Red Dragons had 12 after recording three in 2011.

Sophomore tri-captain Jessica Scannapieco paced WNE with five goals and game highs of five ground balls and 14 draw controls. Freshman Taylor Scialdone recorded five assists, junior tri-captain Kelsey Sherman had a goal and three assists, and freshman Tori Cirocco chipped in three goals among four points and four ground balls. In addition, freshman Brooke Kumnick returned to the lineup after an illness to notch four goals off the bench.

Bell scored all six of her goals in the first half to help MHC build an 11-7 lead at halftime. She was supported offensively by Catherine Ryan (5 points) who had four assists to set a school single-season record, and Molly MacDonald and Naomi Miller (5 ground balls) who had four and three goals, respectively. Christina Horimoto contributed two goals and two assists.

But the story was Malenfant, who made several stops from close range. Including 11 saves in yesterday's 16-6 semifinal win versus Southern Maine, she turned aside 33 shots in the ECAC final four.

Western New England grabbed an early 3-1 lead on goals by Cirocco, Scannapieco and Sherman, but MacDonald started a 3-0 run with her 62nd goal with 19 minutes and 54 seconds remaining in the first half.

Kumnick and sophomore Kaitlynn Stevens scored 50 seconds apart, both assisted by Scialdone, as the Golden Bears reclaimed the lead at 5-4 with 11:53 left.

The lead changed hands again when Bell and MacDonald found the back of the net again to put MHC ahead for good, 6-5, with 10:01 to go. After Kumnick tied the contest, the Lyons ended the half on a 5-1 run--aided by a pair of man-up goals--to go into the locker room up by four goals.

Western New England thought it had pulled within 8-7 in the first half, but Stevens' goal was disallowed because she was called for a dangerous follow-through penalty on her shot and the turnover resulted in a man-up goal by Brianne Phelan that made it 9-6 in favor of Mount Holyoke.

After the Lyons built their biggest lead at 16-11 with 9:49 to go in the game, the Golden Bears made things interesting down the stretch by scoring five times--two apiece by Cirocco and Scannapieco--in a 6:08 span to close the gap to 17-16 at the 1:47 mark on the clock.

After a MHC timeout, WNE won the draw control and had two scoring chances on the cage but Malenfant stopped both shots to preserve the win.

Western New England held decided advantages in most team statistical categories including shots (47-28), shots on goal (38-23), ground balls (25-21), draw controls won (23-12), free-position shots (9-4), turnovers (15-20) and caused turnovers (9-4).