Women's lacrosse celebrates seniors with win over Redlands

ORANGE, Calif. – For the first time in 13 months, the Chapman University women's lacrosse team was back on Wilson Field. The Panthers did not disappoint in a wire-to-wire win over visiting Redlands on Saturday.

Chapman scored the first two goals of the match and never trailed. The Bulldogs did go on a furious comeback attempt, scoring three times in the final 2:10 to make it a one-goal difference in the final score.

Senior Cami Goldsberry was the first put the Panthers on the board, converting a free position shot less than four minutes into the match. Junior Aisling Roberts scored just one minute later on an assist from Goldsberry to make it 2-0.

The Panthers and Bulldogs seemed to trad scores the rest of the half with senior Gaby Bechwati netting her only on a free position shot with 7:39 left in the half to put the Panthers up 8-6.

Senior Preetha Raj and her counterpart from Redlands took over the final minutes of the half as neither team found a way past the keepers. Raj made a flurry of saves in the final minute to keep the Panthers up multiple scores at halftime. She made seven of her 10 saves in the first half and kept Redlands to jut 4-of-9 on the Bulldogs' free position attempts.

The Bulldogs scored the first two goals of the second half to equal the score at 8-8 on one of Celine Flaig's six goals. The Panthers responded just over one minute later after a yellow card gave Chapman a woman-up opportunity. Roberts found senior Alexandra Callaway for the go-ahead goal.

After the match was tied at 8-8, Chapman scored five of the next six goals to build a 13-9 lead. An unfortunate injury for Redlands with 22 minutes remaining put the Bulldogs down a player for the remainder of the match.

Redlands stayed in the match despite being a player down but trailed by four with 2:44 to go. Three quick goals made it a one-goal match but just 11 seconds remained and time ran out before the Bulldogs could construct another attack.

Roberts ended the match with two goals and four assists for Chapman while Callaway led the Panthers with three goals.

The Panthers and Bulldogs are schedule to play twice more next week on Wednesday and Saturday with both matches beginning at 7 p.m.

By Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director

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