WESTFIELD, Mass. -- Emily Petersen scored four goals and Clara Sosa added three Friday night as the #19-ranked Amherst College women's lacrosse team rallied for an 11-8 victory over Westfield State,

The win was the Mammoths third straight and improved their overall record to 5-1 heading into a Tuesday night home game on Gooding Field against visiting Keene State College. Start time is 6 p.m.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

* Amherst trailed 4-1 mid-way through the second quarter, but a key goal in a woman-down situation ignited a fire for the Mammoths. Fiona Jones won a battle behind the Westfield goal for a rebound that included four players, among them Owl goalkeeper Kara Banagan. Quickly passing the ball to teammate Sydney Kang, who had an open net to fire a shot into and make it 4-2 Westfield. 

* Minutes later, the Mammoths still trailed 5-3 but rallied for the final three goals of the half to go into the break up 6-5. With 4:23 remaining, senior captain Sydney Larsen was awarded a free-position shot and capitalized on the chance, racing in from center, shifting to her right and beating Branagan top-side high for the score that made it 5-4. With 2:29 left, Amherst tied it up 5-all as Larsen's pinpoint pass found Petersen streaking across the slot. Petersen made a nice catch of the Larsen pass and beat the keeper for the game-tying goal.

* Only 13 seconds before the half concluded, Sosa gave Amherst its first lead since 1-0 as she made a run toward goal, faked her way around a defender to her right and fired a shot past Branagan. 

* Amherst kept up the pressure as the third quarter began, scoring the first two goals to take an 8-5 lead and extend their goal streak to five straight. Sosa scored both goals, giving her three straight, the second from Kang that made it 8-5 with 9:46 left in the quarter. 

* The Mammoths led 10-6 after a Bridget Finley score on a free-poisition chance, but Westfield responded with two straight tallies to cut that lead back to two at 10-8. With 5:16 left in the contest, Petersen made a run on goal that resulte in her firing a shot into the lower left-corner for an 11-8 lead. 

BY THE NUMBERS:

* Amherst goalie Caroline Stole play a key role in the win, making three bi saves in the second half, including two on free-position chances for Westfield. She finished with eight saves in the game.

* The Mammoths had the edge in shots (32-19), groundballs (20-14) and committed 12 turnovers to the Owls 19. Amherst was credited with 17 caused turnovers, four by Colleen Mooney and three by Fiona Jones. Brynn Korpi scooped up four groundballs to lead the Amherst effort. Another big factor was draw controls as the Mammoths won 11 of the first 16 awarded.