SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Powered by a 10-goal opening half, the Skidmore College women's lacrosse team defeated Mount Holyoke College, 18-9 Saturday in non-conference action at Wachenheim Field.
 
With the win, the Thoroughbreds move to 3-4 overall, while the Lyons slip to 1-4.
 
Skidmore got goals from 10 different players. Tyler Phillips had three goals, three assists, four ground balls, three caused turnovers and five draws to lead Skidmore. Emma Harris had three goals and an assist and Cas Szwajkowski had three goals and six draws.  Allison Byrne and Anna Boogaerts scored two goals each. 
 
Julia Bell led Mount Holyoke with five goals.
 
The visitors opened the game's scoring at the 27:41 mark as Bell converted on the free position attempt for a 1-0 lead. But the advantage was short-lived as the Thoroughbreds rattled off ten straight goals for a 10-1 lead.
 
Junior midfielder Tyler Phillips (Marblehead, Mass./Marblehead) got things going less than 20 seconds after the MHC goal, winning the draw control and running down the middle for the high goal.
 
Skidmore increased its advantage minutes later after Natalie LaBeau scored off a feedHarris. The Thoroughbreds continued to capitalize off of MHC turnovers, converting once again at the 21:19 mark as Harris scored off a feed from the top by Phillips.
 
Phillips added another tally at 18:30, followed by a goal from Byrne less than a minute later for a 5-1 advantage. The duo would continue to add to the Skidmore lead with Phillips converting again on her own draw control win, before Bryne put in a low shot for the 7-1 lead at 16:47.
 
Gianna Muscari added another score a minute later, while a straight down the middle shot from sophomore defender Emily Schlicht made it a 9-1 game with 15:01 remaining.
 
The Thoroughbreds added another goal before the Lyons got one back from Bell to cut the lead to 10-2 at 8:20.
 
Szwajkowski  pushed the lead back to 11 on a nice individual effort, but Mount Holyoke responded with another goal from Bell, who caught a quick pass at the right side from Ryan as the two teams headed into halftime with the Thoroughbreds up 11-3.
 
The second half of action began with a flurry of goals as Harris scored back-to-back tallies in the opening 4:10 of the frame for a 13-3 advantage. Marissa Caponi and Emily O'Connor each added scores of their own to make it a 12-goal (15-3) game with 19:51 remaining.
 
Mount Holyoke charged back to score the next four and five of the next six goals to cut it to 16-8 at the 12:16.
 
The Thoroughbreds added two more goals to build up an 18-8 margin, allowing Bell to score her fifth goal of the day with 52 seconds left for the 18-9 final.
 
Skidmore held a 46-19 advantage in shots, a 20-9 edge in draw controls and a 30-15 margin in ground balls for the game. Thoroughbred goalie Megan Kolopsky played most of the contest, surrendering three goals while stopping three shots. Taylor Goodwill  came on for the final 20:20 of the game, stopping five shots while allowing six goals.
 
Skidmore opens Liberty League play next Friday, hosting William Smith at 4pm at Wachenheim Field