No. 14 W&L Edges No. 16 Catholic, 10-9
from press release
LEXINGTON, Va. – The 14th-ranked Washington and Lee
women's lacrosse team capitalized on five consecutive free position
shots in the first half and never relinquished the lead as they
held on for a 10-9 victory over 16th-ranked Catholic University on
Wednesday afternoon at Watt Field.
W&L (9-4) opened the first half with free position goals from
junior attacker Wilton Megargel (Charlottesville, Va./St.
Anne's-Belfield), sophomore attacker Maddie McKaig (Annapolis,
Md./Annapolis) and senior attacker Meredith Freeman (St. Louis,
Mo./MICDS) to assume a 3-0 lead with 26:27 remaining. Catholic
University (4-6) responded with a tally just over a minute later
from sophomore midfielder Meghan Brady (Huntington Bay, N.Y./St.
Anthony's) off an assist from junior attacker Katie Buonpastore
(Lansdale, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) to bring the score to 3-1 with
25:26 remaining.
The Generals then went on to record the next two goals off of free
position shots from junior attacker Ellie Van Sant (Chevy Chase,
Md./The Taft School) and Freeman to give W&L a 5-1 advantage
with 16:47 remaining in the first stanza. CUA tallied two
consecutive goals from sophomore midfielder Mary Swarthout
(Rockville, Md./Our Lady of Good Counsel) and junior midfielder
Caroline Taltavull (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg), but W&L
recorded the final goal of the first stanza from Megargel to assume
a 6-3 advantage at the half.
Megargel opened the scoring in the second stanza with an unassisted
marker with 25:35 remaining. However, the Cardinals tallied three
consecutive goals, including one from Taltavull and two from
Swarthout, to pull CUA to within one goal (7-6) with 18:00
remaining in the game.
W&L responded with three markers of its own from Megargel,
junior midfielder Emmy Mathews (Baltimore, Md./Bryn Mawr) and
senior attacker Britten Mathews (Richmond, Va./Collegiate) to put
the Generals up 10-6 with 9:38 remaining in the contest. The
Cardinals tallied the final three goals of the game from junior
midfielder Kelly Ryan (Levittown, N.Y./MacArthur), Buonpastore and
Taltavull to pull them to within one goal (10-9). However, CUA's
Brady hit the post on a potential game-tying free position shot in
the final seconds, and W&L collected the ground ball to gain
possession and claim the 10-9 victory.
The Generals were paced by Megargel, who tallied four goals.
Freeman finished the contest with two goals, while Emmy Mathews,
Britten Mathews, McKaig and Ellie Van Sant each tallied a goal.
Junior goalkeeper Katharine Farrar (Lexington, Va./Episcopal)
played all 60:00 in net, stopping nine shots in claiming the
victory.
The Cardinals were led by hat tricks from Taltavull and Swarthout,
while Ryan, Buonpastore and Brady all finished with a goal apiece.
Senior netminder Melissa Brashear (Pittsburgh, Pa./Oakland
Catholic) recorded 60:00 between the pipes, tallying nine
saves.
The Generals return to action on April 18 as they travel to
ODAC-rival Randolph-Macon for a 2:00 pm contest.
