Crusaders Take Advantage of Yellow Cards Late in Half; Edge JWU by 3 on Saturday
AURORA, Colo. – The University of Dallas women's lacrosse team edged Johnson & Wales University (CO) in a back-and-forth match on Saturday at Aurora Sports Park to snap a five-game losing slide. The largest lead of the game was three goals by the Crusaders. Johnson & Wales forced three ties – including the last happening with under seven minutes in regulation. Three Yellow Cards led to the Crusaders having a man-up advantage, and each time they capitalized to earn the narrow triumph.
UD only had one of its top two scorers on the season, Lexi Leite (Houston, Texas), and she was contained to just a pair of goals. Emily Pauletti (Dallas, Texas) and Ella Pedrozo (Austin, Texas) led the offense with career-highs five and three goals, respectively. Eight different Crusaders (4-9) also chipped in at least one goal to spread the offense in the win.
The Wildcats (2-12) led once all afternoon, striking first from their leading scorer, Ashley Guerrero, who had six. Hers came 45 seconds into action.
Dallas could not find an equalizer early on, as it took over four minutes before Pedrozo took a shot. She had a pair saved on free position shots by Brigid McCollam. Leite missed wide on a shot a minute later. Pauletti would break through to knot the score at 22:41, with Leite assisting.
The Crusaders never trailed the remainder of the way, as Mason Cosgrove (Las Cruces, N.M.) won the next draw control and Aneliz Rios (San Diego, Calif.) put in a quick score at 22:16. Camryn Dougherty (Drayden, Md.) found her one goal of the game at 18:11 on a man-up play.
After Madisyn Tulenchik scored with 16 minutes left in the first stanza , Dougherty assisted for her other point to Cosgrove for her lone goal. Leite entered the scoring column for the first time with just under 15 minutes to open one of UD's trio of three-goal leads. Alex Parkey (Henrietta, Texas) provided the next one at 6-3 advantage at 12:56 in the first half.
The seventh UD goal came from Pauletti on a free position shot and would give the guests the first player to have multiple goals with 11 until the break.
Guerrero scored at 3:30 on a free position to knot the score at seven-all, which was the first time the score was even when the Crusaders were the ones leveling the board. Pauletti and Sarah Gamble (Allen, Texas) – yet another Dallas first-time scorer that game – made it 9-7 for the Crusaders heading to intermission. Both their goals came in the final 1:15.
Pauletti had secured her third hat-trick of the season in the first frame. She notched the first UD goal of the second half on a free position shot. Guerrero and Tulenchik had each scored prior to make it 9-9. Pedrozo followed Pauletti with her first goal of the match and did so in a man-up scenario. Tulenchik and Pedrozo traded goals with two apiece over the next four scoring plays. The final goal by Tulenchik was a man-down and made it a 12-11 Dallas edge with 14:43 remaining. Eight minutes passed until a team scored, and it was the leading scorer of the game, Guerrero, to achieve the tying goal.
At 3:50, Leite scored the eventual game-winning goal. Pedrozo made it a two-goal lead seconds later after Parkey followed a UD timeout by winning the draw control. For Pedrozo, it was her first career hat-trick in two seasons. Leite assisted the final goal and had a pair in the goals and assists columns.
The Crusaders placed 31 shots on cage. Only five were off the mark. The Crusaders led by one (19-18) in ground balls, but did commit 10 fewer turnovers (32-22). Both sides were identical with 11 successful clear attempts. UD was outdone 15-14 on draw controls, but were aggressive earning some quick goals after winning that. Pedrozo led in that category with six.
Both sides only made a pair of goals on free position shots, however Dallas did have 13 attempts compared to four.
Guerrero and Tulenchik combined for 10 goals on the team. McCollam claimed 15 saves against 30 shots faced. A trio of players: Jochelyn Suglio, Julianna Lozada, and Guerrero combined for JWU's 15 draw controls. Suglio led with seven.
There were seven yellow cards for just the Wildcats in this match.
SOCIAL MEDIA
#UDCrusaders WIN!
— UDallas Athletics (@UDallasSports) April 20, 2019
- Pauletti (5 G, 10 Shots, 9 SOG)
- Pedrozo (3 G, 6 Draw Controls, 6 SOG
- Leite (2 G, 2 Ast.)
- Marji (5 GB, 2 CT)
- Dallas (36 Shots, 31 SOG, 8 scorers, 10 fewer TO's)#WeAreUD #SCACwlax #d3lax pic.twitter.com/CEbTQoPmj6
UP NEXT
Dallas returns to Colorado next weekend, this time going to Colorado Springs, which is the site of the 2019 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC). Official bracket should be released soon. Keep with the latest schedule announcements on udallasathletics.com.