Crusaders Charge Back to Tie; Rams Score Final 4 Goals to Win on Wednesday
IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas women's lacrosse team mustered a comeback bid in the second half and tied the score at 8-8 with a little past 15 minutes left. However, Cornell College answered with the last four goals of the match and went on to win 12-8 on Wednesday.
The Rams (2-1) struck first with Lexi Dettbarn finding a goal from AJ Granados on the assist less than two minutes into action.
UD's Lexi Leite (Houston, Texas) countered with the next goal at 24:36. The sides would trade scoring results again about a minute apart of each other before Sydney Swift netted two at 15:16 and 14:06 to finish the first half scoring summary.
It was a long drought for both sides and Cornell seemed to have the momentum out of the break with Vaughn Zittle (29:20) and Dettbarn (21:54) extending the lead to four goals.
Leite secured her hat trick and had netted all of Dallas' (3-5) goals at that juncture (21:16). Erika Keever (Fort Worth, Texas) was the other scorer for the Crusaders in this game and her back-to-back goals occurred at 20:46 and 19:55 to cut the score to 6-5.
Cornell bounced back with quick goals by Barbie Becker and Emily Beehler over the next two minutes.
The Crusaders delivered their strongest surge after falling behind 8-5. Mason Cosgrove (Las Cruces, N.M.) won the draw control that led to Leite eventually finding the back of the cage at 16:46. The senior and leading scorer by both teams won her only draw control of the game but would be crucial in getting her fifth individual.
The Rams won the draw control on the next possession, but Leite forced a caused turnover and won the ground ball. After a successful clear, Keever scored the equalizer for Dallas with 15:39 remaining.
Both sides scrapped for momentum over the next several possessions, and it was the Rams that finally came up with back-to-back goals at 11:39 by Becker and 10:53 by Dettbarn. Becker assisted that last goal mentioned.
Another pair of quick goals with about six minutes left pushed the deficit out of reach.
The Crusaders were limited to no substitutes. They had 13 shots on cage and 22 shot attempts. Leite and Keever combined for 17 total attempts. Cosgrove won seven draw controls and joined Ella Pedrozo (Austin, Texas) with four ground balls apiece. Keever picked up a team-high seven ground balls.
Dettbarn led the Rams offensively with four goals, while Swift contributed three. Zittle won five draw controls.
Lizz Winkler (St. Charles, Ill.) collected 13 saves in 60 minutes. It is her fourth match this season to eclipse double figures in saves. Her counterpart, Sierra Harris had five saves in 60 minutes.
As a team, the Crusaders were outshot 35-22 and outdone in ground balls at 29-23. UD did take 11 shots-per-frame and committed 16 turnovers-per-half for 32 overall. The Rams created 14 caused turnovers.
Cornell had 25 turnovers and was 32-for-37 on successful clears. The Crusaders managed 22 successful clears on 34 chances. The home team did hold an edge of 13-9 on draw controls.
Cornell struggled on free position shots, going just 2-for-11. Dallas was 1-of-3.
UP NEXT
Dallas is at Hendrix College this Sunday, March 17, for its lone road match of the month. Things are slated to begin at 10 a.m.