WASHINGTON, Pa.—The Allegheny College women's lacrosse team returned to nonconference action against Washington & Jefferson College Wednesday (March 8), besting the Presidents 17-3 in Washington, Pa.
The Gators offense got out of the gate fast, scoring just three minutes in. After
Jessie Thiessen caused a turnover,
Taylor Vigneri scored off a
Shelby Piper assist to give the Gators a 1-0 lead. A few minutes later, Vigneri netted her second goal of the game, this time assisted by
Maddie Olson. Less than a minute later,
Katie Weiss found the back of the net off Olson's second assist to increase the lead to 3-0.
Lexi Einsig won the ensuing draw and scored off a pass from Piper just 20 seconds later. The lead grew to 5-0 30 seconds later after Thiessen's draw control led to an unassisted goal by
Alexa Maloney. The Presidents called a timeout in an attempt to slow the Gators downed but failed to do so. After
Kaelin Clogan made a save, the Gators transitioned to a goal by Thiessen on Piper's third assist. Shortly after Thiessen's goal, Maloney earned a free position goal which she converted to increase the lead to 7-0.
Late in the half, the presidents scored a goal to cut the Gator advantage to 7-1 heading into the locker room.
Two minutes into the second half, the Gators offense got back to work. Olson scored on Piper's fourth assist to grow the lead to 8-1. A couple of minutes later, Piper earned and converted a free position shot for her first goal of the game. Not too long after that, Piper struck once again, this time off a pass from Olson for her second goal. After some back-and-forth action,
Alex Zielinski scored off Weiss' assist to give the Gators a 10 goal lead.
The Presidents scored their second goal of the game to shrink the lead to 11-2 but the Gators made up for it moments later as Maloney scored unassisted. After Maloney's goal, the Gators added two more quick ones. Piper scored her third of the game off an assist from Olson, followed by Vigneri's third on a free position shot.
Piper netted her fourth off an Einsig assist, followed by an
Alina Nieratko goal off a pass from
Sarah Basden, bringing the lead to 16-2. After the Presidents' third goal,
Rhiannon King scored off another assist by Einsig to close out the game and the win.
Piper finished the game with eight points on four goals and four assists. Olson assisted on four as well while adding a goal. Maloney and Vigneri had a hat trick apiece. Einsig also had three points on one goal and two assists while Weiss had a goal and an assist. King, Thiessen, Zielinski and Nieratko had a goal while Basden added an assist.
In addition to her offensive performance, Piper also had a team-high eight groundballs. Thiessen had four groundballs to go with a team-high seven draw controls and six caused turnovers.
Alex Grob and Laurene Busque had three groundballs apiece.
Clogan picked up the win in net, making five saves in the first half.
Steph Shakespeare also saw time in net, making a pair of saves.
The Gators return to the Robertson Athletic Complex next Friday (March 17) to face Baldwin Wallace University in nonconference play.
