ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University Women's Lacrosse team stood tall on the defensive end, holding off Wells in a 10-5 victory, in non-conference action at Yunevich Stadium on a wet and cold Thursday afternoon.
 
The victory for the Saxons (1-1) is the first for head coach Rebecca Streeten in her tenure. AU snaps a 13-game losing streak with the impressive victory. Wells drops its season opener to fall to 0-1.
 
Alfred outshot Wells by a 26-22 margin and won the ground ball battle, 25-19. The Saxons went a healthy 18-for-25 in clear attempts.
 
Sophomore attack Brenna Turner (Bentonville, AR/Bentonville) led the Saxons with five points, scoring three goals and adding a pair of assists. She also earned seven draw controls. Junior midfielder Shaelyn McClaughry (Somerville, NJ/Somerville), senior attack Julia Myszkiewicz (Buffalo, NY/Amherst), and sophomore defender Madeline Shaw (Buffalo, NY/Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart) each scored twice. Graduate attack Bella Ehms (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca West) tallied a goal and an assist, and senior midfielder Krystina Gauer (Springwater, NY/Homeschool) added an assist.
 
First year goalie Alyssa Piechota (Webster, NY/Webster-Thomas) stood tall in cage, stopping 10 shots and adding six ground balls to earn her first collegiate victory.
 
"I'm very proud and impressed with how hard the entire team worked tonight," Streeten said. "Alyssa and the rest of our defense stepped up and stopped them on critical plays and our offense began to find each other more during the course of the game. It was without a doubt a team win and we're looking forward to keep building from it."
 
Lydia Thomas and Mackenzie Powers tallied two goals apiece to lead the Express.
 
Wells scored quickly, scoring in the first 30 seconds of the contest on a Magdalen Garrity finish. The Saxon offense got cranking, as McClaughry tied the game nearly 90 seconds later, and Myszkiewicz pushed the Saxons ahead two minutes later with a man-up goal. The Saxon scoring came in waves, as Turner, Ehms, and Shaw tallied goals to take a 5-1 lead. Alfred would score two of the next three goals to take a 7-2 lead into halftime.
 
Scoring was a bit more at a premium in the second stanza, as the teams sporadically traded goals throughout. Myszkiewicz wrapped up the scoring and the milestone AU victory with her goal in the final two minutes, off a Gauer assist.
 
The Saxons will return to Empire 8 action in their next match, finishing off their three-game homestand on Saturday, March 27 as Sage comes to town for a 2 p.m. start.