Women's lacrosse comes up short in first NCAA appearance
ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University women's lacrosse team made history with its first NCAA appearance but fell short in a 12-7 loss at Pomona-Pitzer in Sunday's second round game. Senior Brooke Martini closed out her career with a pair of goals.
Chapman fell in an early hole, which proved to be too much to overcome. A slow start saw Pomona-Pitzer take an 8-2 lead at halftime. Although the Panthers outscored the Sagehens in the second half, they never came closer than a two-goal deficit.
Gretchen Rodenberger put the Panthers up 1-0 just 30 seconds into the match with an unassisted goal. However, Rebecca Long answered for the Sagehens just over a minute later and sparked a seven goal run for Pomona-Pitzer.
Long went on to score a hat trick as did Sarah Markowitz. Martini's two goals led the Panthers along with a pair of scores from freshman Danielle Zahn.
It was Martini who ended the Panthers 29-minute scoring drought with steal and score with only 23 seconds left in the first half.
Chapman scored the first four goals of the second half with Kelsey Mackin, Zahn and Stacey Zuppa bringing the Panthers within three at 8-5. Martini fired in her second score to make it 8-6 with 16:14 to go. After that point, the Sagehens stiffened up again and allowed only a goal from Zahn while netting four more.
Both goalies made nine saves in the match but McKenzie Scott only faced 16 shots while Tara Sonnemaker faced 21 shots. In the fourth meeting between the teams, the Sagehens won the draw control battle for the first time with 13 draw controls compared to the Panthers' nine.
Chapman ended the season with a school-record 15 wins, finishing with a 15-5 overall record. Martini graduates as the Panthers all-time leading scorer, netting 113 goals over the past four years.
by Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director
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