ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Northwestern women's lacrosse team hosted the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse on Saturday afternoon for their regular season finale at Reynolds Field. UNW rallied to tie the game at halftime after falling behind early, but a second-half UWL surge powered the Eagles of Wisconsin to a 21-11 win over the Eagles of Minnesota.
La Crosse jumped out to a 5-0 lead through the first half of the first quarter.
Samantha Wiebold (Farmington, Minn./Farmington) severed the UWL goal streak with her first of the day with 5:47 remaining in the opening frame. Just 47 seconds later,
Ava Whitcomb (Otsego, Minn./Rogers) scored to cut the UNW deficit to three. UWL answered with one more goal before the end of the first quarter.
At the start of the second, La Crosse led Northwestern 6-2. UWL's lead jumped up to five goals as they scored early in the quarter. UNW answered with a pair of goals as Wiebold scored her second of the day and
Cara Smith (Watertown, Wis./Watertown) added another to bring Northwestern within three at 7-4.
La Crosse took advantage of a player up situation to add one more goal before the close of the half, but Northwestern's offensive attack hit another level in the final six minutes of the opening half.
Emma Ruegemer (Cold Spring, Minn./Eden Valley-Watkins) and
Maddie Hauer (Wausau, Wis./Wausau West) each notched goals for UNW while Wiebold scored twice more as UNW evened the game at 8-8 before halftime.
With her fourth goal of the game at 3:25 on the clock in the second quarter, Wiebold scored the 100
th goal of her stellar Eagle career. The senior joined the elite company of
Talia Sherry (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) (179) and
Hannah Shands (132) as the only members of the 100 goal club in program history.
La Crosse stormed out the gate in the second half. UWL scored six consecutive goals in the third quarter to jump ahead 14-8 with 19:59 remaining in regulation.
Emma Snyder (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park) found the back of the net to cut into UWL's lead and Wiebold followed with her fifth goal of the game and 101
st of her career, but La Crosse answered with another six goal run to take a 20-10 lead with 6:04 remaining. Whitcomb scored her second of the game with 2:26 remaining, but UWL added another 28 seconds later as La Crosse took the regular season finale 21-11 over Northwestern.
On defense, Smith led all players with eight caused turnovers and seven ground balls. Wiebold won eight draw controls to lead UNW.
While Northwestern has played their final home contest of the year, the Eagles season isn't over. UNW secured the #3 seed in the MWLC Tournament with their 3-2 conference record. The Eagles will travel to take on the #2 seeded Hamline Pipers on Wednesday evening for a MWLC Tournament Semifinal battle.
