Women’s Lacrosse go down swinging against No. 16 Wingate

Wingate, N.C. – Newberry College women’s lacrosse gave it their all in their final match of the season, falling to first seeded Wingate 10-16.

Showing major improvement from their previous meeting, goal keeper Mackenzie Dorr saved a staggering 13 goals and held SAC midfielder of the year Leah Knowles to one goal. Seven Wolves found the back of the net with an offense led by graduate captains Heather Johnston and Marissa Plumer.

A slow start to the day, Serena Elias opened up the offense for the Wolves in the first quarter off a free position shot. On the Defensive front, Mackenzie Dorr started her long day saving five shots and causing one turnover. Marissa Plumer and Marin Paulenko also found themselves causing one each as well. All three scooped a ground ball in the first, with Morgan Parsons and Madalyn Messersmith picking up one each as well.

The second quarter was where things started going better for the Wolves. After another save from Dorr, the Wolves set up a clear where Parsons was in transition. Marching down the field, Parsons ran straight through the Bulldogs defense, throwing in the second goal of the match for the Wolves and her fourth of the season. The goal of the season came from Heather Johnston off an assist from Cassell Richardson. With Richardson setting up the offense at GLE, Johnston beat her opponent to get free hands. Feeding it to Johnston, her angle was tough as her body was just about to pass the face of the cage, so Johnston hit a beautiful running shovel shot to fly right by the goal keepers feet. Messersmith and Johnston caused two more turnovers as Dorr had back to back free position saves, keeping the Bulldogs as low as she can. At draw control, Lana Howell had herself a period winning two of eight, along with Ella Todd, Plumer and Jadie Burns winning one each.

Eyeing a comeback, the Wolves held the Bulldogs to their lowest scoring quarter at this point with three. Newberry’s defense held Wingate to five shots on net with an all around defensive team effort. Kaitlyn Mason and Jadie Burns caused a turnover each with a ground ball picked up by them as well as Messersmith, Elias and Dorr. Dancing around her defender, Todd made an opening for Trysten Burns to be wide open in front of the cage and get the Wolves fourth goal of the match. Todd would then go on to score the final Wolves goal of the third. With a pump fake from deep, Todd’s defender was faked out, allowing her to rush in a score her first of the match.

The Wolves saw red in the final quarter of regulation, outscoring the Bulldogs 5-3. Winning another five draw controls thanks to Hanna Bond (2), J Burns, Todd and Plumer the Wolves left it all on the field in the fourth quarter. Johnston kept her highlight reel going as she opened up the scoring for the Wolves. With a deep pass feed from Parsons, Johnston pulled a semi question mark dodge in front where she wrapped her shot around her defender, sending the ball straight to the five hole. Plumer won the immediate draw control following Johnston’s goal, where she earned her first goal of the match. Splitting her defender at GLE, Plumer cut in towards the crease, leaving her Bulldog behind her where she then dumped a door step goal in over the goalies head. Exchanging goals, Bond made herself known on the offense with a textbook roll back dodge that left her wide open, one on one with the goalie. Making a final push, Todd slung a stick side high ripper on her free position attempt, adding another goal for the Wolves. Finishing her collegiate lacrosse career with the final goal of regulation, Plumer scored a gorgeous diving goal with nine seconds left.

At the end of regulation, Messersmith led the pack with seven ground balls on defense, while Parsons had six successfull clear attempts where she went coast to coast. Although her name did not pop up on the stat sheet, Adriana Hart played a pivotal role in face guarding first team all conference Kaleigh Wilgeroth on multiple occasions this match.