While their counterparts on the St. Mary’s College of Maryland men’s lacrosse team had a hint of drama in the first period of its United East Conference tournament championship game on Saturday afternoon, the St. Mary’s College women’s lacrosse absolutely coasted to a 20-4 victory for its third straight conference title in later that same day.
St. Mary’s College women’s team (11-6) led 10-0 at the end of the first quarter, 14-0 at halftime and eventually scored the first 17 goals of the contest before Wilson (9-5) finally ended the Seahawks’ shutout bid late in the third quarter. Wilson narrowed the margin to 15 on two occasions in the fourth quarter before the Seahawks added to their advantage.
“We had a really good warmup and then we fed off the energy of our bench and our fans and came out ready right from the start,” St. Mary’s senior defender Rachel Freeman said. “We didn’t want to leave anything to chance, especially for our seniors. We knew it was probably our last home game together, so we didn’t want it to be our last game.”
Junior Hailey Betch and senior Katelin Scala each scored four goals and both Bella Dunnigan and MC Mortimer added three goals apiece. Betch, who was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, also added five assists and was among the nine different Seahawks who scored in the first quarter when the hosts enjoyed a 10-0 lead that invoked the running clock for the remainder of the contest.
“Winning a third straight conference title was always the goal all season,” Betch said. “Being named the MVP was very rewarding, but it could not have happened without my teammates. The seniors on this team, like Rachel, have been so instrumental in our success. Their leadership has really been the key for our three straight UEC titles.”
St. Mary’s College third-year coach Brittney Morris has now guided the Seahawks to the UEC conference title in each of her three seasons at the helm and looked forward to seeing how well they may fare in the upcoming NCAA Division III tournament this weekend.
“I know we’re all excited to hear our name called when the selection committee announces the opening round pairings,” Morris said. “We know that we’re going to the tournament and I know the girls are excited to face whoever we get. It really doesn’t matter if we play home or away. It would be great to play another home game, but we’ve been good on the road.”
St. Mary’s scored the first 17 goals of the game until Sage Lague ended the Seahawks’ bid for a shutout when she scored with 3:44 remaining in the third quarter. Lague had an assist on the Phoenix second goal and each team scored twice in the fourth quarter, also played amid the running clock.
St. Mary’s College women’s lacrosse will play their next game on Saturday, May 11, at 3 p.m. against Grove City in the NCAA Division III tournament at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa.
Most Popular
Comments / 0