The women’s lacrosse team took on two Liberty League opponents over the weekend and came away with an even record. The ‘Jackets earned their first win of the season on Saturday when they topped the Clarkson University Golden Knights, 16-12. The day before, UR was outplayed by St. Lawrence University, 10-13.
Sophomores Abby Woodward and Lindsay Dakin were the commanding players against Clarkson, combining to score 10 of the Yellowjackets’ points. Dakin put in six with one assist and Woodward four with one assist, herself. Three more goals came from freshman Amanda Case.
In the first seven minutes, two of Case’s three goals were scored, while Dakin and Woodward contributed one each. In this time period, Clarkson only managed to score one, putting UR ahead, 4-1.
The Golden Knights then netted one more, but Dakin responded severely with two. However, Clarkson didn’t give up easily and scored three in a row, bringing the score to 6-5.
This was not enough, though, as Woodward and senior Heidi Davies added two more to the score just before halftime.
After halftime, the Yellowjackets went on a rampage, going 7-1 with three Dakin points and putting UR ahead, 15-7, with a little more than 18 minutes left to play in the game.
After this, the team let their guard down slightly, allowing a 5-1 run from Clarkson.
In the goal, sophomore Leslie Dube made 10 saves, seven of which were in the second half. On other defense, Woodward added to her stellar performance by winning seven draw controls, grounding four balls and causing three turnovers. Senior Laura Giusto also contributed causing four turnovers and winning three draws.
Senior Heidi Davies contributed three points to the team, putting in one and setting up two more.
Giusto and sophomore Mary Kate Hannan accounted for the last two goals of the game, scoring one each. Senior Christina Montano and freshman Danielle Mondro each had an assist for the day, as well.
Unfortunately, UR wasn’t able to play as well on Friday afternoon. St. Lawrence had a commanding lead, 11-3, in the beginning of the second half before the ‘Jackets were able to respond. At that point, it was too late.
SLU struck early, scoring their first goal in the first 20 seconds of the game, and UR’s fight had little power for the rest of the first half.
Hannan scored all three of UR’s goals of the first half. The first came almost seven minutes into the game and was assisted by Case. Her second goal was unassisted at 13:50 in the first half. The third came with just 12 seconds left in the half and was another free position shot. The first half ended with St. Lawrence ahead, 10-3.
In the second half, the Yellowjackets went on a 7-1 run with three goals each from Dakin and Davies. The seventh goal came from Mondro with just under 15 minutes left in the game. Her netting brought the score of the game to 12-10.
But the comeback was stopped there. SLU’s goal keeper allowed no more shots to get by, and the opponents scored an additional goal before the game ended.
UR outshot St. Lawrence, 31-26, and took the lead in ground balls, 17-13. SLU had the advantage in draws, however, 16-9.
Dube came away with nine saves in the first half and six in the second.
UR is now 1-1 in the Liberty League and 1-4 overall.
Their next match is Friday at Liberty League opponent Skidmore College at 4 p.m. They will then face Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Philbrick is a member of the class of 2009.
