Women’s lacrosse moves to 2-1 after OT win at Columbia, loss to Princeton | The Triangle

Women’s lacrosse moves to 2-1 after OT win at Columbia, loss to Princeton

Photo courtesy Drexeldragons.com
Photo courtesy Drexeldragons.com

The Drexel University women’s lacrosse team improved to 2-0 on the season with their defeat of the Columbia University Lions. The Dragons defeated the Lions Saturday, Feb. 20 in an exciting overtime win with a final score of 6-5.

Senior Emily Duffey stepped up in the contest with two goals; while Nadia Pelham-Lacey, Lacey Aghazarian and Alex Beilman all contributed to the win with one goal each.

The first half was a defensive battle. Drexel held Columbia to one goal and was able to score two. Duffey and Aghazarian had goals off free positions shots. The Dragons went into the break with a one goal advantage.

In the second half, the Lions came out strong, scoring twice within the first five minutes. Shortly after, Duffey scored her second goal of the game to tie things up at three.

Beilman was responsible for the next goal of the game to give the lead back to Drexel. She was assisted by Pelham-Lacey who picked up another point on the season. Pelham-Lacey had a team-high eight points through the first two games.

Seconds later, Columbia would bring the game to a 4-4 tie.

Once again, Drexel regained the lead with a goal scored by Pelham-Lacey with under eight minutes remaining in regulation time.

With two minutes to play, Drexel had possession of the ball and was in a good position to win thanks to two back to back saves from netminder Carlee Ries. Unfortunately, the Dragons turned the ball over in the offensive end with 46 seconds to go. The Lions traveled down the field and scored to tie the game at 5-5 with only two seconds remaining.

The Dragons were motivated to win the game and it showed as they quickly took over in overtime. Drexel won the opening draw control to take a critical possession. Freshman Maggie Stetson found Gerrie, who quickly shot the winning goal.

Midfielder Milan White and Duffey won three and two draws, respectively, for Drexel. The defense caused 10 turnovers. Summer O’Donnell, Madeline DiBrino and Caroline Thiele had a pair each.

Coach Hannah Rudloff discussed any offseason changes that contributed to such a strong opening to the season through the first two games.

“I don’t think we did anything earth shattering. It was just a maturity thing on offense, especially. A lot of girls have really stepped into their roles and gelled in the attack,” Rudloff said.

“We have great chemistry. Our defensive players did a good job with their foundation and what they’ve known in the past,” she continued.

The winning goal came from Junior Lauren Gerrie just 15 seconds into the overtime period. She now has a score in each of the games thus far.

“This year the playing rules changed to have overtime be sudden-victory, as opposed to playing out two 3-minute periods.  So going into overtime we reminded the team of that, and told them that we only had to get one draw and get one goal.  In practice we always say that we can do one more of anything.  Lauren absolutely embodied that mentality, and was able to grab the draw herself and put away the shot just 15 seconds in,” Rudloff explained.

As the season continues, Rudloff is looking towards her seniors to continue stepping up and playing at a high level.

“There is great senior leadership. They are stepping up and being the playmakers. The seniors are kids with a ton of experience that now have the confidence,” she said.

The women had their most recent game Feb. 24 against the No. 9 ranked Princeton University Tigers.  The team struggled to keep up with the elite ranked team, and fell 16-9 to Princeton. The loss took their overall record to 2-1. The next women’s lacrosse game will be at home Feb. 28 when they host Colgate University.