Pauletti Scores Personal-Best 7 Goals; Not enough in 16-12 Result to Hendrix

IRVING, Texas – A season-high in scoring for the University of Dallas women's lacrosse team was not enough on Saturday, as Hendrix College prevailed 16-12 with a 4-0 run in the final 12 minutes of the opening half that proved to be the determining stretch of the match.

Emily Pauletti (Dallas, Texas) headlined the scoring for the Crusaders as she paced the offense with a personal-most seven goals in a game and tied the game-high count with Hendrix's Alison Watanabe. Pauletti would also place all nine of her shot attempts on the cage, which UD proved to be effective at totaling 19 shots on goal with 20 total.

The Warriors attempted 14 more shots and had 23 on goal. The teams were identical in ground balls for each stanza and overall. The Warriors had one more successful clear (32-43) than Dallas and one less turnover (36-35).

Where Hendrix held the edge was in draw controls with a 17-12 advantage. The Crusaders did start to rack up some draw controls later in the second half with four in a row occurring thanks to a pair by Angela Bawardi (Fort Worth, Texas) and then Gabby Dixon (San Diego, Calif.).

However, down 12-9 it was the Warriors that would gain the possession and later score on the first three of such plays to extend the lead to 15-9 and under eight minutes to play. The Crusaders could not pull any closer than within four (16-12), despite the Warriors being forced down to 11 players when a second yellow card forced Lillian Hemingway to be sidelined the remainder of the match. With only 12 available players, the Warriors had just 11 on the field the last 4:06 minutes. Pauletti and Teagan Walsh (Chevy Chase, Md.) put in the last goals, but time expired. After the Pauletti goal which would have been a usual man-up goal, the teams agreed to allow Hendrix to play seven players on either side of the ball to be matched up in the zones.

It took just past six minutes at the start of the match for either side to get on the board. UD had taken a few early chances and come up empty. Hemingway would break the scoreless match with her first point on the day. She finished with a game-high 12 points thanks to leading all players with six assists.

The Crusaders got their equalizer at 23:33 on a Pauletti goal from Dixon. Walsh would net the go-ahead score moments later as she caused a turnover picked the ground ball and would take it all the way down. The second-year player made a big pass over the cage on the backside to Raylee Minich (Crowley, Texas) who scored her first collegiate goal as a dual women's basketball athlete. Her first goal in just her third game, coming in as many weeks, put the Crusaders in front by their greatest margin of 3-1 for the game.

Hendrix notched the next three goals with Hemingway and then Watanabe finding her first two to make it 4-3. Pauletti answered for the next two Crusaders goals and each one knotted the scoreboard in that moment. Watanabe secured the hat trick for the Warriors at the 11:37 mark and put them up for the rest of the way. Hendrix had the final four goals of the stanza with two by Watanabe, and her other was landed as time expired in the stanza.

It took over four minutes for either side to cross the scoring threshold, but UD's Monica Coniker (Palma, Colo.) tallied her first career goal to make it a three-score difference. Hendrix over the next two and a half minutes streaked three straight goals to make it 12-6. The Crusaders countered with a Dixon goal and two more from Pauletti at 14:32 and 13:53. That three-goal margin was the tightest it would be until the final.

Other notable shooting games were Lizzy Elfelt (Brookfield, Wis.) with five shots and four on frame. All three of Walsh's were on cage. Dixon put in her second goal of the campaign and tallied a team-high seven ground balls, and matched Maureen Riley for three caused turnovers for team-bests in the match. Riley and Clarisa Duvvuri (San Marcos, Calif.) followed Dixon with six ground balls apiece for second on the team. Dixon also won five draw controls and Bawardi followed with four. Kathleen Rodda (Granite Bay, Calif.) made seven saves, as did Hendrix's keeper Alexis Williams.

The Warriors other notable scoring mention was J.J. Tufu with a hat trick. They move to 2-8 overall, while the Crusaders are sitting at 0-6.

Dallas is on the road on Sunday at Southwestern University for a 1 p.m. start.