LAX Falls to Mercyhurst

Senior attack Kaitlynn Wiltraut had a goal and an assist. Photo Credit / Ronald Hanaki Senior attack Kaitlynn Wiltraut had a goal and an assist. Photo Credit / Ronald Hanaki
Senior attack Kaitlynn Wiltraut had a goal and an assist. Photo Credit / Ronald Hanaki
Senior attack Kaitlynn Wiltraut had a goal and an assist.
Photo Credit / Ronald Hanaki

Ronald Hanaki
Sports Editor

The women’s lacrosse team played PSAC’s top-ranked Mercyhurst Lakers and lost 10-7 last Sunday in Erie, Pa.

Mercyhurst is 8-0 in the PSAC and ranked No. 1 in the conference, so this was going to be a tough game for ESU.

ESU senior attack Lauren Nunes was the PSAC leader with 82 points, but she was completely shut out in this game. Nunes had five shots and one turnover, but she finished the game with no points.

Mercyhurst was led by sophomore attack Grace Lawson and senior attack Oliva Keirn who both had hat tricks in the game.

The game was scoreless for the first nine minutes. Mercyhurst drew first blood when Lawson scored on an unassisted goal to give the Lakers an early 1-0 lead.

Mercyhurst staked itself to a 4-1 lead after twenty minutes of play.

The Warriors would claw back. Unassisted goals by sophomore midfielder Alica Stratten and senior attack Kaitlynn Wiltraut made the score 4-3.

The Lakers scored the next two goals to give themselves a 6-3 lead.

However, the Warriors would level the game. ESU’s Chessie Rahmer, Jamie Zimmer, and Taylor Jefferis scored the next three goals to tie the game at six apiece.

Mercyhurst’s Lawson scored her third goal of the day to give the Lakers a 7-6 lead.

Two minutes later, ESU senior Samantha Hosford scored her first goal of her career to tie the game at seven with almost ten minutes left to play.

But that ended the scoring for ESU. Mercyhurst’s Keirn scored the next two goals to put the Lakers ahead for good.

Mercyhurst junior Janelle Williams added the final goal with seven seconds remaining to give the Lakers a 10-7 win over the Warriors.

Mercyhurst outshot ESU 27-22 and led ESU 12-7 in draw controls.

The Lakers had a clear advantage over the Warriors in free position shots. Although Mercyhurst was only able to convert once, Mercyhurst had seven free positions shots to none for ESU.

ESU redshirt junior goalkeeper Jessica Maxwell made 11 saves.

ESU is 6-3 in PSAC play and in fifth place in the conference with three games left in the season. The top six teams will make the postseason PSAC tournament.

The latest IWLCA Divsion II poll has ESU ranked No. 19. The Warriors (11-3, 6-3) will play West Chester (12-1, 7-1) at home on Wednesday, Apr. 20.

The Golden Rams are ranked No. 2 in the PSAC and are led by juniors Ashley Pyle (43 goals, 31 assists) and Dina Cifelli (12 goals, 42 assists).

Email Ronald at:
rhanaki@live.esu.edu