Women's Lacrosse fights hard in Missouri, but returns with losses to Missouri Baptist University and Fontbonne University
ST. LOUIS - The University of Dallas women's lacrosse team (1-3) bused to St. Louis this past weekend for two games. After the ten-hour trek, the Lady Crusaders fell to Missouri Baptist University, 9-8, on Saturday, Feb. 26, and picked up a loss to Fontbonne University the next morning, 12-4.
Game 1: Dallas 8, Missouri Baptist University 9 Boxscore
The Lady Crusaders came out strong and took the lead on a quick goal by senior captain Christine McFarland (Floral Park, N.Y./Floral Park H.S.). Unfortunately, MBU responded with four unanswered goals, until sophomore Mary Salotto netted a score in the 21st minute.
MBU scored once more in the half while both McFarland and Salotto both scored again, leaving the score 5-4 at the break. Freshman Celina Gonzalez came out of the half and scored her first goal of the season. McFarland had three more goals as UD fought to hold off MBU but it was not enough to pull out the win, as the Spartans edged the Crusaders out by one point.
UD won the contest for groundballs, picking up 13 to MBU's 8. They also led in the circle, with 15 draw controls to MBU's 4.
Game 2: Dallas 4, Fontbonne University 12 Boxscore
In the game against Fontbonne, McFarland again started the scoring for UD half way through the first half to cut the Griffins' lead to 4-1. Dallas sophomore Irene Harris (Cockeysvile, Md./Maryvale Preparatory) tallied the next goal, which was followed immediately by freshman Celina Gonzalez (Spring, Texas/Klein H.S.) finding the back of Fontbonne's net, making the score 5-3.
From that point, Dallas was not able to keep up with the Griffins, as the Lady Crusaders netted only one more goal, from McFarland, in the initial minutes of the second half. The final score, however, does not reflect the effort with which the Lady Crusaders put forth -- Dallas led the game in draws (67 percent) as well as ground balls (56 percent).
Dallas freshman Samantha Mason (Elgin, Ill./Elgin H.S.) played goalkeeper for the first time in her collegiate career, over the weekend, and recorded eleven saves against MBU and five against Fontbonne.
Dallas Women's Lacrosse looks forward to their home opener, which takes place on Sunday, March 6, at 4:00 p.m., against Trine University.