The Elizabethtown College women’s lacrosse team lost to the University of Scranton Royals, Landmark Conference competitors, with a score of 6-16 in Scranton, Pa. on Saturday.
According to the Etown Athletics website, the team “had a season-high four different players score a goal” during the game. First-year midfielders Addie Stang and Rachel Reed, along with sophomore midfielders Mary Nell Donahue and Dana Robidoux, scored the goals for the Jays.
Etown defender Meghan Donohue, a junior, explained what was different about this game and the team’s dynamic that enabled goals by the four players. “In the first half, we only had one shot on goal, which Stang scored,” Donohue said. “We realized that we needed to shoot to be able to get points up on the board, and our attack did a great job in the second half of doing that. Donahue, Stang and Robidoux all drove to goal to score, and our other attack players were being more aggressive and making good cuts to get open, which is how Reed scored her goal.”
Less than three minutes into the game, Scranton’s Nikole Sullivan scored the first goal. In the first half, the Blue Jays scored one goal. The Royals scored 12 more goals than Etown before the end of the first half. Scranton’s Kerry Sullivan attempted to score, but the shot was intercepted by first-year goalie Beata Palosz, who made eight saves for the Jays during the game.
Although Etown lagged during the first half, the team picked up its game against the Royals in the second half. “We started out competitively on defense in the first half, but we weren’t taking advantage of our possessions or going to goal on offense, so we gave Scranton the opportunity to get ahead by outshooting us 25-2,” Donohue said. “However, in the second half, we really picked up our game and outscored them 5-3. If we started out playing that way, it would have been a much more competitive game.”
In the second half, the Royals’ Sheila Mulligan made a shot, but Palosz blocked it before Stang’s turnover.
With 28 minutes left in the second half, a Scranton goal by Erin Allen followed Scranton’s Kiersten Carnes’ ground ball pickup at 28:14. It was Allen’s seventh goal of the season. At 24:40, Robidoux scored her eighth goal of the season and Etown’s second goal of the game. Further into the game, Stang scored her sixth goal of the season with less than four minutes remaining. Reed made a last-minute goal, her first of the season, with 47 seconds left off an assist from Stang. However, the game ended with a Royals’ victory. Despite the loss, Etown had several season-high marks during the game.
“We’ve been working on having better possessions of the ball so that we create more opportunities to score,” Donohue said. “The differences between the first and second halves today showed that we still have improvement to make on that, but that we are getting better and more than capable of performing. We’ve also been working on being more aggressive while going after ground balls and trying to get the ball back in the mid-field if we lose it on attack, and our progress on those aspects has been very apparent in our last two games.”
The Blue Jays bounced back in a big way with their highest offensive output of the season against Rugters-Camden yesterday.
Despiting falling in overtime 15-14, the Blue Jays had arguably their best game of the season.
Stang scored a career high seven points in the contest with six goals and one assist.
Robidoux also had a career high with six points on five goals and one assist.
The women’s team will host Landmark Conference opponent Drew University on Saturday, April 5 at Wolf Field.
