Women's Lacrosse Wins Final Match of 2017 at Elmhurst College
ELMHURST, Ill. – The University of Dallas women's lacrosse team concluded the season with a 12-6 victory on Sunday at Elmhurst College. First-year head coach Destinee Johnson's squad completes the season 4-11 and matched the same win total as 2016.
Dallas won for the second Sunday in a row and third on the season. It utilized a similar result from last week against Johnson & Wales University, where the guests pulled away from a tight halftime score with a huge second half. After not allowing a goal at all in the second half last Sunday, the Crusaders limited Elmhurst (1-10) to a single scoring play and outscored the Bluejays by five in the last 30 minutes.
NOTABLE STATISTICS
(Individual Notes)
- Gwen Mohler (San Francisco, Calif.) broke the single-season program record in assists with two to wrap up her career season with 12. The previous holders of the mark were Christine McFarland (2011) and Hayley Rodgers (2016) with 10.
- Mohler had points in all but two contests this spring and added a pair of goals to end a season of personal bests in goals (15), assists (13), and points (28). Her three helpers on Sunday were the one shy of a career-high in a single match. That came in the other contest the attack had multiple assists, which was Carroll University (March 16).
- Lexi Leite (Houston, Texas) produced a game-high five goals and added an assist for her 10th on the season. Overall, the team's leading scorer for the second straight year boasted 47 goals and 57 points. She now has 74 and 87, respectively, through two seasons.
- Leite etched a goal in all but one game this spring and had 10 hat tricks. A trio of them were five-goal performances, including today's win.
- Behind Leite (6) and Mohler (4) in points to round out the top three was Erika Keever with three total because of two goals and an assist. Keever won a team-high three draw controls.
- Julia Shinkle (Ewing, N.J.) was the third player part of a trio to have two goals. Patty Hahn (Plano, Texas) completed the scoring with a goal.
- Lizz Winkler (St. Charles, Ill.) earned the win with 60 minutes protecting the cage. The keeper snagged 13 saves and five groundballs. Winkler eclipsed double-digits in saves on eight occasions her rookie season.
- After the goalie's five groundballs, a quintet of Crusaders earned three including: Eliza Knapp (St. Paul, Minn.), Christiane Flynn (Seattle, Wash.), Hahn, Leite, Mohler, and Shinkle.
- Holly Tonry (Seattle, Wash.) forced a personal-best and game-high five caused turnovers.
- Elmhurst was led offensive by Grace Knoebel with four goals.
- Megan Keener made 11 saves against 23 shots faced in the cage for the Bluejays.
(Team Notes)
- Dallas outshot its opponent 28-26, with a 15-11 difference in the second half. UD's overall amount was the third highest this season, and 23 shots on cage marked the second highest behind its match tying a school record for goals with 21 against Carroll.
- Turnovers were nearly even as Dallas committed one fewer 17-16. Both squads had eight by intermission.
- 29 groundballs by the Crusaders was a season-high. Elmhurst garnered seven each frame.
- The Bluejays were 4-for-5 in free position shots in the first half and made more in the game. However, the home team went 0-for-3 in the second. Dallas had three in the match.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The teams went back-and-forth in the first stanza. Knoebel scored the first goal with just under two minutes into play to give her team the first advantage. UD's leading scorer countered Elmhurst's top holder in goals with one less than a minute later to knot the game back up. Mohler managed an assist on that goal to give her the single-season record.
Knoebel earned a free position shot a couple moments later and hit the back of the cage to make it a 2-1 score. Over 10 minutes passed before Keever scored an equalizer to give her a goal in her 13th match of the campaign. Knoebel had a hat trick and the team's only three goals as her next netter made it 3-2 with 14 and a half to play in the first.
That was the final lead for the Bluejays as Shinkle tied the match third time on her first goal from a free position. It was the second in a row for the Navy and White as Keever had also connected on one two goals prior. Both of those counted for UD's makes in three attempts in the half. Keever dished her lone assist on Leite's second goal of the game with 11 minutes in the first to give Dallas its first lead on the afternoon.
Sam Sepke gave Elmhurst a goal from someone new. After Leite connected from Mohler a second time to make it 5-4, Knoebel landed the team's fourth straight scoring result on a free position shot to knot the game a fifth time until the break.
That was the last time the score was even as Mohler sank her first goal with just beneath two minutes on an assist from Frances Davis (Heber City, Utah).
Dallas started the second half with the first four goals and used the five unanswered goals to seize control of its last game on the ledger. Leite notched a hat trick with her third goal on a free position look. That was three minutes in and then the guests added two more goals less than a minute later by Hahn and Keever, respectively. Six minutes later and the scoring run was capped on Mohler's second goal coming from Tonry for her first career point on the assist. The dual sport women's basketball player did lead that squad in dimes in 2016-17 with 140.
Krystyna Kotlinski ended the stretch of UD goals at 11:46 to cut the score to 10-6. The Crusaders completed the day with Shinkle claiming her fifth multi-scoring game. Dallas ended its scoring summary with the way it scored its first goal, which was Mohler zipping an assist to Leite. This was the third time this tandem hooked up on the day.