Women's Lacrosse prevail on Sunday at Illinois Tech to conclude Season
CHICAGO, Ill. – The University of Dallas women's lacrosse team (5-7) defeated Illinois Institution of Technology (5-11) on Sunday 13-10. The victory is the second on a five-game road trip and second-straight time the Navy and White pulled a 1-1 record on consecutive gamedays, with both triumphs occurring on Sunday. Dallas improves to 4-2 when playing on Sunday's, including a 4-0 mark since March.
The Lady Crusaders received big performances from seniors Mary Hilker (Haslett, Mich.) and Meghan Falconer (Kohler, Wis.) in the victory, with the duo tallying four goals apiece. Falconer's three that led to a season-high occurred in the first half, and her final pair of the initial hat trick came within 20 seconds of the final 6:30 to cap a seven-goal frame.
Dallas led 7-3 at intermission.
Initially the Scarlet Hawks held an early advantage as Isabel Meyers netted the first goal to put the home team up 1-0. After junior Hayley Rodgers (Houston, Texas) knotted the affair with her 18th goal of the spring. That netter happened with 25:48 left in the first stanza, and two minutes later Meyers would strike again with her second-straight to put IIT up one final time.
Hilker, the other player matched her senior team-mate with a game-high, four goals; got her first of two in the opening half with a game-tying scoring result with 21:46. Falconer's first of the afternoon would lift UD ahead, and the visitors never trailed beyond the 11:38 minute point of the first half. The Lady Crusaders would notch five of the final six goals in the first frame.
Illinois Tech got on the board about a minute and a half out of the break with Meyers claiming the third of four goals for her squad. Dallas countered immediately as junior Colby Madrigal (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) sprinted out of the draw control and scored her 10th goal of the season in six seconds.
The midfielder has etched at least one point in four-straight matches, all coming on the road. She added to that season total of 15 with the squad's lone assist; which was credited on sophomore Gwen Mohler's (San Francisco, Calif.) first goal of her collegiate career. That netter opened out the Lady Crusaders' greatest edge of seven with a 12-5 tally on the scoreboard.
A surge in the final 10:39 minutes by the home team threatened the comfortable margin as Illinois Tech poured a 4-0 run and tallied five of the final six goals to nip the final deficit to three. The span was from 10:39 to 5:30 minutes left in the second half.
Helping snuff the momentum was freshman Patty Hahn (Plano, Texas) firing her second goal to round out the trio of multi-scoring performers for Dallas with 1:35 in regulation.
Hilker tied a season-high in scoring, and her effort propelled the senior to the top of the team leaderboard with 22 goals on the campaign. The midfielder combined for 12 netters on the road trip, and found the back of the cage in UD's final six contests. Hilker ends her career with 69 goals over four seasons with the Dallas women's lacrosse program.
The native of Haslett, Michigan, led the team with six shot attempts, while a trio of Lady Crusaders chipped in four. Among that unit were: Hahn, Rodgers, and Falconer. Dallas attempted 25 shots as a team.
The Scarlett Hawks took three more shots with 28, as Cassandra Reineke displayed eight of those for a game-high. Meyers added six as the duo mentioned here each landed hat tricks. Nene Sanankou added two goals to round out the multiple scorers for IIT.
Earning the win in her final outing between the pipes was senior Christine Jablonsky (Colorado Springs, Colo.). The goalkeeper finished with 13 saves against 23 shots faced. Jablonsky, who broke the career save record for the school on March 19 versus Olivet College, will set the new mark at 415 through three campaigns. Her efforts this season have also claimed her the record for goals against average with only 9.25 goals allowed per game.
Third-year Head Coach Melissa Grant matched last season's win total of five, which was a four-win improvement from her debut spring at the helm of the women's lacrosse squad.