LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – The No. 25 Mercyhurst women's lacrosse team showed off strong team defense in the second half keeping the host Lock Haven University scoreless over the final 22-minutes to claim a key 11-7 win over the Bald Eagles on Saturday afternoon in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division play at Charlotte Smith Field.
Both goalies were tested early as Lauren Girardi and
Kaitlyn Lippert had to make multiple saves in the first minutes to keep things scoreless. It would eventually be the Lakers who struck first with
Paige Cocina beating Girardi at the 6:59 mark, followed by
Julia Rescott finishing off a pass from
Rachel Hirst less than a minute later for a 2-0 edge. The home side the started to chip away at the deficit as Caitilin Morrow and Braxtin Reddinger sandwiched a tally by
Gabby McGinn to make it 3-2 visitors with ten minutes gone. A yellow card to
Marissa Comerate at the 10:30 mark led to Lock Haven tying the contest when Karli Gilbert scored off a free-position attempt. The two sides went scoreless for almost the next ten minutes with each keeper having to make just one save, before Gilbert netted her second of the afternoon to give the Bald Eagles their first lead of the day. Mercyhurst then met the challenge head on by picking up the next four goals thanks to
Molly Meegan,
Payton Cook (2) and
Victoria Gottorff to claim a 7-4 advantage with just under three minutes remaining. Gilbert finished off a first-half hat trick to complete the scoring in the opening 30-minutes.
LHU came out of the break strong recording the first three shots of the period, before Morrow beat Lippert to cut the margin to 7-6 with 1:32 gone. The Lakers returned the favor off the ensuing draw won by
Julia Ruscio as Rescott nicked the post and Meegan went wide prior to McGinn finding Ruscio for her 24
th of the campaign. Morrow once again brought the hosts to within one at 8-7, but Rescott had a quick response to reclaim a two-goal cushion, 9-7 with 21:41 remaining. Over the next nine minutes neither team could bury the rock as Lippert and Girardi were able to hold down the forts for their respective teams. Cocina would finally breakthrough the Girardi wall with her second of the afternoon thanks to a free-position marker making it 10-7 at the 17:58 mark. Lippert continued to build a brick wall in her cage the rest of the game making three more saves, while McGinn converted a Meegan pass for the final tally of the day and the 11-7 final.
Team Stat Pack
Shot Attempts - Hurst, 32 / LHU, 33
Shots on Goal - Hurst, 23 / LHU, 18
Clears - Hurst, 16-20 / LHU, 14-20
Draw Controls - Hurst, 11 / LHU, 9
Ground Balls - Hurst, 15 / LHU, 13
Turnovers - Hurst, 14 / LHU, 15
Free-Position Attempts - Hurst, 1-3 / LHU, 1-5
Mercyhurst Individual Stat Leaders
Points – McGinn (5), Gottorff (3)
Goals – Cocina, Cook, McGinn and Rescott (2)
Assists – McGinn (3), Gottorff (2), Hirst and Meegan (1)
Draw Controls – Ruscio (6), Comerate and Murphy (2), Meegan (1)
Saves - Lippert (11)
Lock Haven Individual Stat Leaders
Goals – Gilbert and Morrow (3)
Draw Controls – Reddinger (5)
Saves – Girardi (12)
Postseason Outlook
With the loss the Lakers are now 6-3 in the PSAC West and sit in the number two seed. The third seed at the moment is IUP at 4-3, the Hawks also have a win over the Green and Blue with the rematch coming in the season finale at Saxon on April 28th. With a win on Wednesday the Lakers would host the 2v3 game on Saturday (5/1) for the right to play Seton Hill on Wednesday (5/5) in Greensburg.
On Deck
The Lakers will welcome the Crimson Hawks of IUP to Saxon Stadium on Wednesday afternoon at 4pm in the regular season finale.
