Benedictine College (KS) Soars by Women's Lacrosse with Huge Second Half

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. – The University of Dallas women's lacrosse team fell 21-8 on Saturday versus Benedictine College (KS) on a neutral site match. Dallas (2-10) trailed by three at halftime, but a 12-2 stretch in the last 30 minutes proved too much as the Ravens (9-2) triumphed.  

NOTABLE STATISTICS

(Individual Notes)

- Lexi Leite (Houston, Texas) returned to the scoring column after breaking a 17-match streak dating back to last season. Her point-streak remained intact last outing with an assist so that has been pushed to 19 contests in a row counting 2016.

- Leite recorded a hat trick for the eighth time this spring and her four goals marked a team-high.

- Leite and Gwen Mohler (San Francisco, Calif.) remained tied for the team-lead in assists with nine apiece. The duo continue to share the ball and each had one of the team's two helpers.

- Mohler notched the other multi-scoring match with two. She has a point in the last eight games.

- Erika Keever (Fort Worth, Texas) maintained the longest scoring streak at 10 matches and ties Leite for the longest span this season.

- Christian Flynn (Seattle, Wash.) had the team's other goal for her first collegiate one.

- Benedictine's Lizzie Darrow shot seven goals and had 10-of-her-11 shots on cage.

- She also gave out two assists, and was one-of-four Ravens to have multiple. The lone player with more than two was Caitlyn Chickey with a trio.

- Kacey Moore and Mary McEnerney contributed hat tricks with four and three goals, respectively.

(Team Notes)

- Dallas was outshot 34-15. After being nearly even in the first half (14-11), the Ravens flew away with a 20-4 difference in the final frame.

- The Crusaders had a 3-of-4 display in free position shots, whereas Benedictine executed four out of nine attempts.  

- Benedictine was perfect on clears (8-8) where Dallas had three failed (7-10).

- Both teams were equal in the first stanza for groundballs (6) and turnovers (12), but overall UD was outdone 13-7 in groundballs and 21-16 in turnovers committed.

- The Ravens held an 18-11 edge in draw controls.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Mohler caught a pass from Leite to give the Crusaders a 1-0 advantage with a minute and a half into the competition. Moore equaled the scoreboard with Benedictine's first goal a couple seconds later as the leading scorer in the match, Darrow, provided that assist. UD's Leite got her second point of the match nearly a minute after etching her first with a goal to move Dallas up 2-1.

McEnerney responded to knot the contest back again, and then Darrow tallied the go-ahead goal four minutes into play. The Raven never relinquished the lead from that juncture. After Moore added her second goal of the game to double to margin at the time by two, Keever from the Crusaders got her necessary goal to keep her stretch increasing. Her netted goal just past seven minutes into the match erased the deficit back to one a final time (4-3).

Benedictine rattled off the next four scoring plays to go up as many as five with 13:24 in the first half remaining. Leite, the team's leading scorer on the year, mustered some fight to get the Crusaders back into the match. Her free position goal at 12:21 and then two minutes later on an assist from her fellow passing leader on the squad, Mohler; brought the margin to 8-5. Dallas trailed by that same amount at intermission 9-6. Leite had her fourth and final goal to round out the frame. That final goal for the sophomore was number 65 of her career.

In the second half, Dallas kept even with its opponent through the first four minutes. The goalkeeper for the Crusaders, Lizz Winkler (St. Charles, Ill.), exited the game for the first time this season and Olivia Severson (La Crosse, Wis.) had to assume the keeper duties for the remaining 27:12. Severson is a dual athlete in women's soccer and is a goalie for the fall sport program. She had four-of-seven saves by UD in between the pipes.

However, the Ravens were able to mount a strong offense the remainder of the way with 12 goals. Six of those occurred in a row to build a 15-6. Mohler nailed a goal on free position to end the run. Flynn made her first career goal on a free position two scores later, and was with a man-up at just over nine minutes left.

UP NEXT

Dallas concludes the road trip in Colorado this weekend with host school Johnson & Wales University-Denver at 11 a.m. (MST) and 12 p.m. (CST).