The women’s lacrosse team rallied from a seven point deficit, but ultimately lost to the Drexel University Dragons 9-6, on Saturday, April 12 in their final non-conference game of the season. With the loss, MU falls to 6-7 (3-1 MAAC) as Drexel improves to 6-7 (1-1 CAA.)
The beginning of the game was all Drexel as they scored seven goals in the first 14 minutes of the play. During that span, the Dragons scored on seven of eight shots attempted. Drexel’s Emily Duffey and Joelle Hartke both contributed a pair of goals during the rally. While allowing seven goals, the Hawks were only able to earn two shots.
Freshman attacker Olivia Higson finally broke the spell and put the blue and white on the board with 5:31 left in the opening frame. This was Higson’s second consecutive game with a goal from a free-position shot.
Three minutes later, junior midfielder Allison Stathius scored to cut the Dragons lead to five making the scoreboard read 7-2 going into halftime.
Less than five minutes into the second half, senior attacker Stephanie Anderson scored a goal off an impressive feed from senior midfielder Kaleigh Gibbons. Drexel answered back as Kelly Palace scored on a free position shot to extend the lead back to five at 8-3.
However, Anderson and freshman midfielder Claudia LaMarca each scored a goal to bring the Hawks within 3; 8-5 with 14:26 remaining. MU only had two shots over the next 13 minutes before Duffey scored another goal and put an end to the blue and white’s comeback bid. Sophomore attacker Michelle Gonzales scored the final goal of the game with just 36 seconds left as the team fell, 9-6.
“It took us a while to get used to their level,” said Hawks head coach Denise Wescott. “In the second half we showed that we could play with a team of that caliber but we need to start the game off like that. I thought our bench did a great job including Kristina (Vangeli) who did some solid things defensively and helped us get the draw more than Drexel. It was good to see the team not fold and come back and out score them in the second half. Hopefully that will give us some confidence heading in to the end of our conference play.”
Blue and white junior goalkeeper Katie Donohoe compiled six saves in the contest and Drexel’s Teresha Bradley had four saves of her own. The Dragons held a slight edge on shots 17-16 and MU held the advantage on draws winning 11 of 17.
The Hawks return to action on Wednesday, April 16 to host conference rivals Iona at 3 pm.
