Second Half Surge gives Coach Martin's Lady Crusaders First Win
IRVING, Texas – It was a good start to a new era for the University of Dallas women's lacrosse team in Sunday's home-opener versus Ottawa University. Head Coach Lauren Martin captured her first win with the program, as Dallas (1-0) defeated the Braves (0-1) in a 13-8 result. It is the Lady Crusaders fourth season-opening victory in the last six years.
Dallas would come out of halftime with five unanswered goals in four and a half minutes to power a 9-4 second half run and pull by the opposition. Freshman Lexi Leite (Houston, Texas) had a huge collegiate debut with a team-leading four goals and two assists. Senior Hayley Rodgers would also net a hat trick with three goals.
The match began in favor of the guests, with Ottawa building a 3-0 advantage over the first 10 minutes. Hannah Jaloma got the first goal of the contest with 24:28 minutes until the end of the opening stanza. Dylann Finley and Kirah Thomas added goals, before the Lady Crusaders countered with three straight of their own.
Sophomore Sarah Schmitz (Huntington, N.Y.) produced UD's first goal of the campaign with 19:56 left in the half. Helping form the trio of goals after Schmitz were Rodgers and senior Colby Madrigal (Laguna Niguel, Calif.), respectively. The last goal occurred with 16:46 ticks on the clock before intermission. It would be eight minutes before the deadlock was broken by OU's Megan Kaufman. Leite evened the board with 4:20 left to begin her high-scoring day. The Attacker would tally three of the next four Dallas goals.
In the second half, the Lady Crusaders used that quick start to form a 7-1 run that was capped by Madrigal's second goal of the day with 21:21 minutes in regulation. Freshman Claire Gagliano (Peachtree City, Ga.) shot her first career goal within that span as well.
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
-Rodgers led the Lady Crusaders with 10 of the team's 27 shots and had a team-high six shots on goal. Leite would place five of her six shots on cage.
- Schmitz and Madrigal contributed multi-scoring games to round out the quartet for that category with two goals apiece. The duo also were perfect (3-for-3) in shots on cage.
- Picking up the win in the cage was freshman Kyla Mangham (Oklahoma City, Okla.). The first-time keeper would make five saves in a complete 60-minute effort.
- Both squads were nearly even in ground balls with Dallas holding the advantage, 18-17. Rodgers led UD with four, while Dylann Finley collected a game-high of six.
- Ottawa was led by Megan Kaufmann with four goals and shot 5-for-5 in shots on cage. Thomas led the team with six shots and added two goals. Bailey Williams made seven saves while taking the loss.
- The Braves did win 22 draw controls compared to UD's 11.
UP NEXT
Dallas is on the pitch February 13 at Southwestern University. The game is slated to begin at 6 p.m.