Wesleyan University scored nine goals in the first half and the nationally ranked No. 14 Cardinals posted a 15-9 NESCAC win against the Hamilton College Continentals in women's lacrosse action at Wesleyan's Smith Field on Saturday afternoon.

Nicole Lyons '18 netted three goals for Hamilton (5-8 overall, 3-6 NESCAC), converting on both of her free position shots. Darby Philbrick '18 scored two goals and scooped up two ground balls. Philbrick leads the Continentlas with 21 goals during her senior campaign.

Kara Pooley '19 recorded one goal, one assist, four ground balls, seven draw controls and two caused turnovers. Jackie Cuddy '18, Tessa Ryan '21 and Skyler Simson '20 contributed one goal each. Hannah Burrall '19 started the game and finished with two saves. Eleni Neyland '18 played the second half in goal and recorded two saves, two ground balls and two caused turnovers. 

Abby Manning led Wesleyan (9-5, 5-4) with a season-high six goals. Caitlin Wood scored four goals, Julia Gretsky tallied two goals and one assist, and Sydney Prokupek dished out three helpers. Abigail Horst controlled six draws and Breanna Cavanaugh collected five ground balls. Allegra Grant stopped 8 of 16 shots on goal for her ninth win of the season.

The Cardinals jumped out to a 4-0 lead with goals at 27:13, 26:30, 24:47 and 24:13 before Ryan put Hamilton on the scoreboard off a feed from Alex Hendry '19 with 23:01 left in the first half. Pooley then found Philbrick at 21:56 to cut the Continentals' deficit in half at 4-2. Wesleyan scored three straight goals, starting at 20:10 and ending at 16:10 to extend its lead to 7-2 before Hamilton connected with three free position goals to outscore the hosts 3-2 in the final 15 minutes to enter the half down 9-5.

Pooley and Cuddy made the score 13-8 when they scored back-to-back goals for the Continentals with 19:56 and 14:34 left in the second half. Lyons scored her third goal of the game and the final of the game on a free position shot with 54 seconds left in the contest.

The Continentals remain on the road as they wrap up their NESCAC schedule at No. 8 Middlebury College on Sunday at 1 p.m.