St. Mary's Holds Off Lafayette
from press release
MORAGA, Calif. - The Saint Mary's lacrosse team
jumped out to a 7-2 lead and held on against Lafayette, defeating
the Leopards 9-8 on Sunday afternoon at Saint Mary's Stadium. The
game was the home opener for the Gaels, as SMC won its second
straight game after defeating Fresno State on Thursday.
With the win, Saint Mary's improves to 2-4, while Lafayette drops
to 1-4.
Saint Mary's was led by Jillian Chong with four goals and one
assist, while Juliet Munroe scored twice with an assist. Mariah
Walk had a goal and two assists, while Krista Morgan and Anna
Turpit also scored for SMC. Kathleen Worsdale tallied nine saves in
goal.
Lafayette was led by Addie Godfrey with three goals and Cammie
Linville with two goals. Meghan Curtin notched six saves in
goal.
Saint Mary's outshot the Leopards 30-27 and had a 23-12 edge in
groundballs. Anna Maria Carabini led the Gaels with five
groundballs while five different Leopards had two groundballs
apiece.
Walk got the Gaels on the board first, scoring on a pass from Chong
just 35 seconds into the game. After Lafayette tied the game, Chong
scored, followed by two Munroe goals to give the Gaels a 4-1
advantage with 16:13 remaining.
The teams would each score one more goal before halftime as the
Gaels led 5-2 at the break.
SMC's Morgan and Chong scored the first two Gael goals of the
second half as SMC took a 7-2 advantage with 20:40 remaining, and
it looked like the Gaels had the game secured.
Lafayette responded by scoring four of the next five goals to pull
within 8-6 with 12:56 remaining. Turpit stopped the bleeding with a
key goal with 10:53 left on a pass from Sarah Howard to put SMC up
9-6.
Lafayette pulled within one score after goals by Godfrey and
Linville with 7:03 remaining. Saint Mary's picked up its defense
over the final seven minutes as the Gaels shutout the Leopards the
rest of the way. Worsdale made a key save and SMC ran out the
clock.
Saint Mary's is back in action on March 26 when it faces Saint
Joseph's in Philadelphia, Penn.
