Norton, MA – The Vassar College Women's Lacrosse team won its fourth straight contest to begin the 2026 season Thursday afternoon with a 17-9 road win at Wheaton. Sophomore
Maddie Kaltsas (Minnetrista, MN) scored four times and senior goalie
Maddie Busam (Summit, NJ) turned aside a career-high 14 shots.
Vassar starts 4-0 for the second straight season with Thursday's victory and the Brewers dropped the Lyons to 4-1, handing Wheaton its first loss of the campaign.
How It Happened
- Vassar never trailed in the game and raced out to a 4-0 lead in the first 4:59 of the contest.
- Tess Billings (Deerfield, IL) scored twice over the opening run with Karina Gyllenhaal (Beverley, MA) and Sigrid Fredlund (Seattle, WA) supplying the other two tallies.
- After the Lyons sliced their deficit in half to close the opening stanza, Vassar ripped off the first four goals of the second quarter, getting a goal and a helper from Gyllenhaal, to open an 8-2 lead with just under three minutes left before halftime.
- A Kaydie O'Neil goal for Wheaton in the final two minutes closed out the first half scoring and sent the two teams into the break with Vassar leading 8-3.
- Vassar outshot Wheaton 20-15 over the opening 30 minutes and went into halftime with a 7-5 edge in draw controls.
- Busam made eight stops for the Brewers in the first half.
- Wheaton outscored Vassar 3-1 in the third period with an O'Neil goal beating the third period horn to get the Lyons to within 9-6 with 15 minutes left to play.
- Vassar responded by dominating the fourth quarter, tallying eight of the 11 combined goals in the frame.
- The Brewers scored the first five goals of the quarter, including three straight from Kaltsas in just over 90 seconds, to surge in front 14-6.
- After Wheaton stopped the run on a Jessica Chamberlin marker at the 8:57 mark, Vassar closed the game with three of the final five goals to finish off the victory.
- Amelia Poirier (Atherton, CA) scored twice in the final 6:41 to make the score 17-8 with 4:11 left to play.
- Wheaton held a slim 17-16 edge in second half shots, while draw controls after halftime were even at 8-8.
- Busam turned aside six more shots after the break for the Brewers.
For The Brewers
- Busam made double-figure saves for the first time as a Brewer with Thursday's 14-save performance. In four appearances to date in 2026, Busam has turned aside 23 shots and is working to a 9.23 goals against average and a .511 save percentage.
- Kaltsas matched her career-high with four goals on Thursday and finished the tilt with a groundball and a team-high five draw controls.
- Billings also recorded four points on the strength of a hat trick and an assist to go along with two groundballs.
- Gyllenhaal finished a strong game with two goals and two helpers for the Brewers.
- Emilia DiLiberto (Allison Park, PA), Annabelle Tracy (Warwick, RI), Fredlund and Poirier all scored twice in the win.
- DiLiberto added four draw controls and three groundballs to her scoring output.
- Amanda Hahn (LaGrange, IL) led the team with three caused turnovers.
- Emily Kallman (Jamestown, RI) finished the day with two forced miscues and a pair of groundballs.
For The Lyons
- Chamberlin led the Lyons with three goals and four points and added three groundballs.
- Natalie Bilodeau finished with two goals and an assist.
- O'Neil scored twice and led the team with five groundball and four draw controls.
- Georgia Qua caused a team-high two turnovers, collected two groundballs and an assisted on a goal.
- Jenna Langan finished with eight saves in goal covering just over 49 minutes of action.
Game Statistics
- Vassar closed the day with a 36-32 advantage in shots.
- Draw controls went to the Brewers by a slim 15-13 margin.
- Wheaton held the advantage in groundballs, 28-20.
- Vassar was an efficient 20-for-22 in clearing chances.
- Wheaton went 16-for-17 in clears.
- The Brewers converted three of their five free-position opportunities.
- The Lyons went 4-for-8 in free-position shots.
What's Next
- Vassar heads to Roger Williams on Saturday.
- Wheaton hosts Springfield Saturday afternoon.
