MEADVILLE, Pa.—The Allegheny College women's lacrosse team punched its ticket to the 2017 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Championships with a 19-2 senior day victory over Ohio Wesleyan University Saturday (April 29).
With the win, the Gators wrapped up the third seed for the tournament, and will face second seed Oberlin College Wednesday, May 3 at 5:00 p.m.
The Gators got to work early as senior
Christine McGrath found paydirt on the first shot of the game just 26 seconds in. Two minutes later,
Katie Weiss extended the lead to two with a free-position goal.
Lexi Einsig followed up with a goal on an assist from McGrath, forcing a Battling Bishop timeout.
Following the timeout,
Shelby Piper drove in for a goal, extending the lead to 4-0. After seven scoreless minutes, Piper found the back of the net for the second time. Just over a minute later, senior
Alexa Maloney scored unassisted to make it 6-0. It only took 13 seconds for the Gators to score again, as
Sarah Basden set up
Jessie Thiessen for the seventh goal for the Gators. Less than a minute later, Maloney scored her second goal on an assist from Piper. With less than three minutes to play,
Maddie Olson scored unassisted to make it 9-0.
Alina Nieratko scored the tenth goal off Basden's second assist heading into the half.
The Gators scored four straight goals to open the second half. Weiss netted her second goal of the game, followed by goals from Thiessen and Maloney, both assisted by Piper. McGrath netted the fourth goal of the half to make it 14-0. Sloane Baumgartner got the Battling Bishops on the board with a goal at the 21 minute mark. Allegheny answered with three straight goals. Nieratko scored the first goal, her second of the game.
Taylor Vigneri scored the second, then assisted on one to Einsig. Haley Savoie scored the second goal for Ohio Wesleyan, making it 17-2.
With just under six minutes to play, Maloney scored on a free position shot. The goal marked her 100th career point.
Senior
Brie Freeman closed out the scoring for the Gators with her first goal of the season.
Maloney led the Gators in scoring with four goals. Piper netted five points on two goals and three assists. McGrath netted a pair of goals to go with an assist. Thiessen, Einsig, Nieratko and Weiss had two goals apiece while Basden had two assists. Vigneri had two points on a goal and an assist. Freeman and Olson had a goal each.
The Gator defense, led by shutdown senior defender
Eleni Brown, tied their low water mark for goals allowed this season.
In addition to her offensive output, Thiessen caused four turnovers while tallying eight draw controls and five groundballs. Einsig had five draw controls. Senior Ashley Postofsky had three draw controls and two groundballs.
Laurence Busque had three groundballs. Senior
Jeannie Kirk had two groundballs, one draw control and caused one turnovers.
Senior
Kaelin Clogan picked up the win in net, making four saves with just one goal allowed.
