Crusaders fall to Southwestern in 2019 SCAC Women's Lacrosse Tournament
(Photo Courtesy of SCACsports.com)
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The No. 3 Seed University of Dallas women's lacrosse team challenged the No. 2 Seed Southwestern University on Saturday afternoon of the second match of the 2019 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Women's Lacrosse Tournament.
Dallas tied the Pirates twice early on and had the score even at 3 through the first 10 minutes of the opening half. However, the higher seeded Southwestern team poured the next 13 goals over the remainder of the half, that included seven in less than 10 minutes to stretch the margin out of reach.
Southwestern (7-5) will play the No. 1 Seed and 21st ranked Colorado College Tigers on Sunday at 12 p.m. The Tigers defeated the No. 4 Seed Johnson & Wales University (CO), 22-1, in the first match earlier in the day.
A goal 37 seconds into the game by Grace Maynard on an assist from Hayley Donnelly put Southwestern on top early.
A turnover caused by Darya Gerami (Burbank, Calif.) that followed the next SU draw control would lead to a ground ball by Ella Pedrozo (Austin, Texas), which led to the first UD game-tying goal after the good clear attempt by Erika Keever (Fort Worth, Texas) at 27:54.
A goal on the free position by Raven Garcia lifted the Pirates ahead again at 25:15, and then Maynard found the back of the cage for her second goal of the day about a minute later.
UD answered with two goals in less than a minute span, as Camryn Dougherty (Drayden, Md.) put in her 10th of the season at 23:56. Sarah Gamble (Allen, Texas) came up with the draw control and Emily Pauletti (Dallas, Texas) scored on a free position seconds later for the equalizer.
It was scoreless until 19:46 when Natasha Perez-Krause notched the go-ahead goal that sparked the next 14 goals for the Pirates that went into the final stanza.
Pauletti was the UD player to snap that scoring run with her second goal of the match four minutes into the final half. She had two of the hat-tricks for the team on the visitor's side of the scoreboard. She totaled a game-high 11 shots and picked up four ground balls for second on the team.
Keever netted the other hat-trick for Dallas, as she finished her career with six in a row and seven-of-eight games. Keever also garnered a team-high six draw controls to propel her to 110 all-time. Dougherty added the other multi-scoring day for Dallas with two goals and was perfect in her three shots landing on cage.
Lexi Leite (Houston, Texas) scored the other Dallas goal to complete her 2019 campaign with a goal in all 14 games. Her scoring streak spans 28 matches dating to April 1, 2017. Through 51 appearances, Leite has scored in 48 matches to lead her to 159 for second all-time in the program.
Other statistical notes for the Crusaders were the team leaders in ground balls, Mason Cosgrove (Las Cruces, N.M.) and draw controls, Alex Parkey (Henrietta, Texas). Cosgrove closes her career with a team-leading five ground balls to push her season-lead total to 54. Parkey notched five for second on the team and ended the year with 54 altogether.
In the first half, shots were 30-10 (25-5 SOG) and ground balls in favor of Southwestern. The Crusaders did post a 10-shot advantage (19-9) and collected five more ground balls (14-9) in the last 30 minutes, but it was not enough to erase the large gap at intermission.
Southwestern forced 10 of its 13 caused turnovers in the first half. This led to a 22-13 difference with UD turning the ball over more, particularly 15-6 in the opening frame. Dallas was 6-of-15 on clears, while the Pirates only failed to clear the ball five times (15-20).
The leading scorers for the Pirates were Johnee Wolter and Maynard with five and four, respectively. Garcia recorded a hat-trick with three goals as well. SU compiled 13 assists on its 20 goals.
Dallas concludes the 2019 season 4-10 overall, which matches third-season head coach Destinee Johnson's highest win total from 2017. Dallas will graduate five seniors in May: Leite, Keever, Gamble, Pedrozo, and Cosgrove.