LYNCHBURG, Va. – University of Northwestern Women's Lacrosse battled Randolph College on Wednesday in the first of three games for the Eagles in Virginia over their spring break. The Eagles put on an offensive clinic with a 21-13 win over the Wildcats.
The 21 goals tied the second-highest single-game mark in program history, just one short of the program record 22 the Eagles scored in a win over Augsburg last year.
Five Eagles recorded hat tricks in the win.
Samantha Wiebold (Farmington, Minn./Farmington) led the offense with a team-high six points, scoring four goals and recording two assists.
Emma Snyder (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park),
Maddie Hauer (Wausau, Wis./Wausau West),
Ava Whitcomb (Otsego, Minn./Rogers), and
Emma Ruegemer (Cold Spring, Minn./Eden Valley-Watkins) each scored thrice in the game as part of Northwestern's balanced offensive attack.
The first quarter was a back-and-forth battle. UNW scored twice in a row to go up 2-0, but the Wildcats responded with a three-goal run to take the lead. Northwestern responded with two more goals to go up 4-3, but Randolph scored once more in the first to tie the game up at 4-4.
In the second quarter, the Wildcats jumped back ahead 5-4 in the opening minute. The Eagles tied the game at 5-5 with over 13 minutes still to go before halftime. From there, the scoring stalled until UNW found the back of the net with four and a half to go in the quarter, putting UNW up 6-5. Just 13 seconds later, Randolph scored to tie the game again.
In the final four minutes of the opening half, the Eagles scored three times to retake the lead up 9-6. Northwestern would never give it back.
After halftime, UNW added another goal in the opening minutes of the third quarter. The goal would be the first of eight in the period as the Eagles jumped ahead to a 17-10 lead by the end of the quarter.
Randolph scored the first goal of the first period to cut their deficit down to six, but Northwestern responded with four-consecutive goals to take a 10-goal lead up 21-11. The Wildcats scored twice more in the final couple minutes, but it was too little too late as the Eagles took the 21-13 win in their first spring break match this year.
On defense,
Abby Scheel (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) and
Lauren Paar (Centerville, Minn./Centennial) tied for the team-high of two caused turnovers. In goal,
Daisy Koffler (Pine City, Minn./Pine City) saved 10 shots for the Eagles. For draw controls, Wiebold led UNW with eight in the game. Scheel and
Cara Smith (Watertown, Wis./Watertown) each had three assists to lead the team.
Up next, Northwestern will battle Ferrum College on Friday, March 10 at 12:00pm local (11:00am CST) for their second match of spring break in Virginia.
