Women’s Lacrosse Starts Out Strong

By Neil Kavanaugh

This past Sunday the Women’s Lacrosse Team hosted number four seed Salisbury University this past Sunday in a 13-12 loss in double overtime. The girls fought hard, as junior middle Ally Criscuolo led the team in scoring with 3 goals and 4 points. Senior attacker Megan Ellis and junior attacker Holly Regan both notched 3 points each. Junior goaltender Nanci Hernandez made 9 saves on the night.

The Cards started the first half very strong with a goal from Regan just over a minute into the period. Criscuolo, Ellis, and senior middle Jess Lyons added to the lead to make the score 4-0 with just 24:19 left. Salisbury scored two quick goals, but Ellis scored another to keep the lead at 3. This action went back and forth, with the girls keeping a slight edge on Salisbury. The half ended with a goal from Criscuolo with 0:07 left to give Catholic a 9-6 lead.

“The goalie had it hard, and we always play very competitive teams,” said sophomore middle Sydney Hartman. “We try to schedule games against competitive teams, and going into the game we had the mindset ‘don’t worry about rank, this team doesn’t mean anything’. I think we will do very well this season.”  

Catholic University started off the second half giving up an unlucky bounce to make the score 9-7. Criscuolo scored to again give the girls a 3-point lead. Salisbury scored four unanswered goals to make the game 10-11 Salisbury with 7:03 left in the game. This went back and forth until Salisbury scored with 0:45 to tie the game. The girls never let up and it took almost two extra periods for the winner to come out on top. Salisbury scored with just over a minute in the second overtime period.

“This season, I expect a lot of growth in our team, and to be constantly surprised by what our team can do,” said sophomore middle Anna Maupin. “ One thing we can take away from this game is that frustration that we felt when the game had ended. This frustration has brought along a fire to never let it happen again. We are learning not to underestimate ourselves, and we will channel that passion to not only beat the number 4 seed next time, but to beat the first seed.”

The Catholic University Women’s Lacrosse Team beat Saint Mary’s of Maryland 17-16 this past Wednesday thanks to a free position shot from Lyons with 0:19 left in the thrilling comeback. The girls play again 4pm on Sunday March 10th at Meredith.