Women’s lacrosse wins late-game thriller

ORANGE, Calif. – In a final 10 minutes that saw two ties and two lead changes, the Chapman University women's lacrosse team held on to prevail 14-12 over the visiting St. Mary's College Belles. Junior Lucy Schwartz and freshman Meg Hanson helped the winning effort by scoring four goals each.

After Chapman jumped out to an early 2-0 lead at the 22:55 mark, neither team was able to score for the next nine minutes. St. Mary's senior Molly Stout ended the drought with a goal at the 13:10 mark to get the ball rolling. Hanson responded just over a minute later, scoring her first goal of the game to give the Panthers at 3-1 lead with 12 minutes left to play in the half. The Belles added one more goal with just under eight minutes to play, but the Chapman answered with four consecutive goals to finish out the half up 7-2.

Schwartz scored the first goal of the second half just 38 seconds in, adding the Panthers' lead. Just 20 seconds later, the Belles fired back, followed by a goal just over a minute later to cut their deficit to 8-4. Schwartz and Hanson responded with two more goals to put Chapman up 10-4 with just under 22 minutes left to play in the game.

St. Mary's fired back hard, going on an 8-1 run to take a 12-11 lead with 8:29 left to play. With 4:33 left to play, Schwartz caused a crucial turnover, allowing the Panthers to get the ball back down 12-11. Junior Leah Donnelly picked up the ground ball and tossed it to freshman Vanessa Topete, who fired it past the Belles' goalkeeper to tie the game at 12.

Senior Danielle Zahn won the draw control, giving Chapman 90 seconds to take the lead. Sophomore Emily Kraker saved a shot from Donnelly, but freshman Emily Allen was in the perfect position to pick up the ground ball. The rookie passed the ball to Zahn, who found the back of the net to re-take the lead for the Panthers. Allen added an insurance goal with 46 seconds left in the game, sealing the 14-12 victory for Chapman.

Sophomore goalkeeper Preetha Raj tallied 10 saves for her second consecutive double-digit save game of the season. Hanson tallied an assist to go along with her four goals for the Panthers. Donnelly picked up eight ground balls and recorded an assist while also causing a team-high three turnovers. Zahn added four ground balls, eight draw controls and a caused turnover to her one goal on the night.

The Panthers take a week and a half off before returning to Wilson Field on Thursday, March 21 to host Framingham State at 7 p.m.

by Katie Bell
Sports Information Assistant

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