Box score
BANNER ELK, N.C. --- The Tiffin University
women's lacrosse team held off a furious rally by Lees-McRae
College late in the second half, edging the Bobcats by a 14-13
margin in non-conference play on Thursday evening at Tate
Field.
Lees-McRae (2-3) outshot the Dragons (1-2) by a 36-24 margin,
including a 20-11 advantage in the second half, while winning the
ground ball battle by a 50-22 tally. Tiffin converted 23-of-26
clear attempts on the day, as the Bobcats were successful on
14-of-18 clearing tries.
Alexandria Quast (Lockport, N.Y.) paced the Dragons with five
goals and one assist, while Melissa Cooper (Woodlands, Texas) and
Elyse Braun (Tempe, Ariz.) posted four and three tallies,
respectively. Madeline Kane (Lake Peekskill, N.Y.) played the full
60 minutes in goal for Tiffin, recording 14 saves.
Olivia Gudewich (Frederick, Md.) and Emily Guenthner (Nampa,
Idaho) led the Bobcats with three goals each, while Ellie Psillas
(Hagerstown, Md.), Laura Hawthorne (Winter Garden, Fla.), and Lexi
King (Woodstock, Ga.) all posted a pair of tallies. Psillas also
notched game-highs of two assists and seven ground balls, while
Taylor Moody (Woodstock, Ga.) recorded eight saves between the
pipes for the Bobcats. Callaghan Porcher (Oviedo, Fla.) also paced
the Bobcats with three forced turnovers.
Tiffin struck first early in the opening half, taking a 1-0
advantage when Emily DeMartino (Chesterfield, Mich.) converted an
eight-meter shot at the 29:33 mark. The Bobcats answered with two
goals in the next three and a half minutes, claiming a narrow 2-1
lead on Gudewich's first tally of the game after a well-placed feed
from Hawthorne with 26:06 left in the half.
After Quast evened the tally at 2-2 less than a minute later,
Hawthorne and King found the back of the net to give the Bobcats a
4-2 advantage with just over 20 minutes left in the half. Tiffin
responded with six of the next seven goals, taking an 8-5 lead on
Braun's first of the game with 3:26 to play in the half before
Gudewich cut the margin to 8-6 seconds before the period
expired.
Tiffin answered early in the second half, tallying three quick
goals to take an 11-6 lead on Quast's fourth of the evening with
23:56 to play. After King cut the lead to 11-7 with her second
strike of the game and Tiffin answered with a pair of tallies to
push the margin to 13-7, Lees-McRae stormed back into the contest
with three quick goals, cutting the advantage to 13-10 on Psillas'
second of the evening with 12:18 to play.
Cooper answered with her third tally of the contest a minute and
a half later to give the Dragons a 14-10 lead before the Bobcats
launched a late rally, scoring three times in a four-minute span to
cut the margin to 14-13 on back-to-back strikes from Guenthner.
The sophomore scored perhaps the highlight goal of the season to
cut the margin to one, showcasing her speed as she carried into the
arc from the restraining line and found the back of the net as she
fell to the ground with less than two minutes to play. Tiffin
quelled the rally from there, forcing several key turnovers below
the Bobcats' offensive restraining line to hold on for the
victory.
Lees-McRae returns to action on Saturday when the Bobcats travel
to Belmont, N.C. to resume Conference Carolinas play with a 12 p.m.
matchup against Belmont Abbey College.
- LMC -
