BANNER ELK, NC - The Lees-McRae Lady Bobcats battled the very
end in their Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference match up with
Belmont Abbey College Thursday evening, but ran out of time,
falling 12-11 to the Lady Crusaders.
The Lady Bobcats got on the board first as freshman Susan Dael
(Bel Air, MD) scored 1:34 into the contest. The Lady Crusaders
Rachel Davis would even things up just under two minutes later
while Samantha Hooker put Abbey ahead for good a minute and half
after Davis' goal. The Lady Crusaders would extend the lead to 3-1
before Dael got one back for Lees-McRae at 16:30 of the first
half. The Lady Crusaders would again go on a three goal run until
senior Jenn Alevetsovitis (Baltimore, MD) would cap the first half
scoring at 8:54. Both teams played great defense to hold one
another scoreless as Abbey doubled the Lady Bobcats 6-3 entering
halftime.
The Lady Crusaders would come out flying in the second opening
up an eight goal lead at 10-3 three and half minutes into the
second half. Theresa Nolan would lead the Abbey onslaught scoring
all four goals, the first two twenty three seconds apart. After a
timeout, the Lady Bobcats regrouped and clawed their way back into
the game. Junior Margie Lesser (Manassas, VA) would get this
rolling as she scored back to back goals within just under a minute
to make the score 10-5. The Lady Crusaders answered back with one
before Lees-McRae would go on a 4-0 run, including a pair by junior
Brittany Dabkowski, to pull with two with just under eleven minutes
remaining. The Lady Crusaders again found a way to stop the
bleeding and scored at 10:02 to give them a three goal cushion.
Both teams again tightened up their defenses as seven and half
minutes of scoreless lacrosse saw both goalies keeping their teams
in the game and the score 12-9 in favor of Abbey. Lesser would
bury a goal with just under two minutes remaining to pull
Lees-McRae to within two however the Lady Bobcats just ran out of
time. Dabkowski completed her hat trick with two seconds remaining
on the clock as the Lady Crusaders squeaked out a 12-11 win.
The Lady Bobcats won the battle for ground balls 34-16 and out
shot Abbey 28-22. With the win, Abbey moves above .500 with an 8-7
record while the Lady Bobcats fall to 0-12.
Commented Coach Rob Porter after the game, "I am extremely proud
of the ladies this evening. We battled right until the very end.
They did a great job coming out hard in the second to build that
lead, but we showed much character coming back the way we did.
Last time we played, they beat us by thirteen. I couldn't be
prouder of the way the ladies came together and fought until the
final buzzer."
Shannon Farden led Abbey with a five point night off of three
goals and two assists while Nolan contributed four goals. Meghan
Darley added a pair of goals while Hooker, Davis and Michelle
Babcock added singles.
Lesser led the Lady Bobcats with four goals while Dabkowski and
Dael added three and two respectively. Alevetsovitis and junior
Stephanie Jaworski added single goals. Each Lady Bobcat scorer
also added a single assist.
The Lady Bobcats will return to action Sunday April 9th when
CVAC rival St. Andrews Presbyterian College visits Tate Field.
Game time is scheduled for 12:00pm.
