The No. 3 nationally ranked Lindenwood women's lacrosse team defeated the No. 11 ranked Grand Valley State Lakers 11-7 on Sunday afternoon from Hunter Stadium in St. Charles, Mo.
Grand Valley opened the games scoring off of a successful free position shot by Meghan Datema just 79 seconds into the game. Lindenwood would even the score at 1-1 with 23:21 remaining in the first-half.
Allison Hurley picked up her fifth goal of the season, with the assist being credited to
Hannah Doughty. Less then two minutes later,
Sophie Buelow gave the Lady Lions the lead with a free position goal. Hurley and Buelow would team up for Lindenwood's third goal of the game, as Buelow fed Hurley nicely in front of the Lakers cage. Grand Valley answered back with two straight goals, to take a 4-3 advantage late into the half. With 54 seconds showing on the clock,
Morgan Judd drew the Lady Lions even at 4-4 with her fifth goal of the season. The two teams headed into halftime knotted up at 4-4.
Lindenwood and Grand Valley would exchange two goals aside for the opening 10:07 of the second half, bringing the score to 6-6. Constance and
Kara Wendell recorded the first two goals of the second half. The Lady Lions would then go on to outscore the Lakers by a total of 5-1 over the final 15:09 of play. Doughty, Constance, Hurley,
Amanda Schimpke all poured in goals for Lindenwood during that stretch. The game would end with a final score of 11-7 in favor of the Lady Lions.
In goal for the Lady Lions,
Rachel Ortell turned in a season-high eight saves, en route to her second win of the season. Lindenwood would hold the advantage in shots for the game, 30-22. Each team scooped up 23 ground balls.
Erin Abbott paced the Lady Lions defensively, recording team-high marks in ground balls, draw controls, and caused turnovers. The Lady Lions were successful on 18 of their 21 clear attempts, including a perfect nine for nine during the second half of play.
Following the victory, the Lady Lions improve their record to 3-0 on the season. With the loss, the Lakers move to 1-2 on the season. Lindenwood will return to action on March 6 when they host the Fort Lewis Skyhawks from Hunter Stadium at 3:00 p.m.
