Women’s LAX defeats Lock Haven

By Christina Judy Staff writer

The Mercyhurst Women’s Lacrosse team conquered Lock Haven University on Saturday, April 8. The Laker’s 14-11 victory was gained defending their own home field in this PSAC match-up.

The beginning of the game was a lot of back and forth until junior midfielder Meghan Nasman took her free position and successfully notched a goal in the top of the net at 6:28.

The Lakers went on to boost their score to 2-0 about one minute later when they frazzled the Bald Eagles defense.

Senior Rachel Plumely kept her calm until she spotted attacker Maggie Newton coming off a back door cut leaving her defender in the dust. Newton caught the pass from Plumely and shot it swiftly into the back of the net to earn her first point of the day.

Lock Haven started to feel the pressure and capitalized on their next offensive possession, making the score 2-1.

Mercyhurst answered when Newton took an open drive toward the net and scored. The back-and-forth continued as the Bald Eagles scored on a free position to close the gap in the score.

However, Newton would not let up and went on to earn a hat trick at the end of the first quarter. She dodged around her initial defender and then got a shot off before the defensive crash could get to her, this goal made the score 2-4. Lock Haven followed with a goal to close out the first quarter.

The Bald Eagles came into the second quarter on a mission, scoring a goal to tie the score up at four. Mercyhurst was not phased, instead midfielder Marlee Antinora took advantage of a beautiful leading pass from freshman Whitley Easton and scored within the eight.

Lock Haven was able to score two more goals a few minutes apart to take the lead. Laker Nation did not have time to be bothered with Lock Havens goals because sophomore and Ohio native Amanda Bailey ripped through multiple defenders and scored to give herself her first goal of the game.

Lock Haven fought back and scored two more goals towards the end of the quarter, giving them the lead. The Lakers rallied together to push for a goal delivered by Newton to give them a tied score 8-8 going into halftime. At the end of the second quarter, the Lakers had an impressive stat sheet of 100% on their clears and seven draw controls.

The Lakers pumped up at halftime as they went into the third quarter with a Plumely to Newton connection once again. This gave Newton her fifth goal of the game and gave the Lakers a one-point lead.

Senior captain Victoria Gottorff worked her way around the crease and past a defender to score a goal and ex- tend the Laker lead. was up 36-20.

The Bald Eagles made an attempt to lessen the gap with their goal at 10:11, but their efforts quickly vanished when Plumely netted one herself with an assist from Megan Millard. Newton scored another with seconds dwindling down in the quarter.

The fourth quarter was a scene of teamwork as Antinora awarded herself a hat trick at 9:57. Millard took a healthy advantage of a free-position and scored for the Lakers.

Lock Haven fell short to the Lakers ending with a score of 14-11!

Things finally started to look up for San Diego with 6:58 left in the second half when the scores jumped to 58-50, however the change happened too late, leaving UConn with a 20 point lead at the end.