ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Northwestern women's lacrosse team took on the Wartburg College Knights in an MWLC contest on Saturday. The Eagles and Knights battled back and forth with UNW ultimately earning a 5-4 victory. During the starting lineup announcements in the pregame, the Eagles recognized their two seniors
Amy Linden (Willmar, Minn./Willmar Senior High) and
Samantha Wiebold (Farmington, Minn./Farmington) for Senior Day.
Wartburg scored the first goal of the game in the third minute of regulation, but
Samantha Wiebold (Farmington, Minn./Farmington) answered for UNW with an unassisted goal for the Eagles. The Knights broke the tie with another first quarter goal to take a 2-1 lead into the second quarter.
The Knight's lead didn't last long as Northwestern scored three consecutive goals in the second quarter.
Ava Whitcomb (Otsego, Minn./Rogers) scored her first of the game to tie it up at 2-2. Wiebold followed with her second goal of the game less than two minutes later. Whitcomb then added another goal for her second of the day to double the Eagles lead.
Down 4-2, the Knights battled back to tie the game with the final goal of the first half and another to tie it at 4-4 with less than 18 minutes remaining in regulation.
Whitcomb broke the tied with just 4:58 remaining. The freshman scored with her third goal of the game to complete a hat trick and give UNW a vital 5-4 lead. The Eagles defense would do their part to close out the game and seal the one-point win for UNW in the conference match.
Cara Smith (Watertown, Wis./Watertown) led all competitors with seven caused turnovers in the game. The sophomore added seven ground balls and three draw controls for the Eagles. In goal,
Brittany Clark (Shell Lake, Wis./) had four saves for Northwestern.
Next up for Northwestern is an away game at Augsburg on Friday, April 29, starting at 7:00 P.M.
