By Ronald Hanaki
Sports Editor
ESU’s Women’s Lacrosse team beat the Kutztown University Golden Bears 10-8 at Kutztown’s Keystone Field for their seventh straight win.
The Warriors also tied last year’s school record with twelve wins on the season. With the win, ESU remains in sole possession of first place with a one-game lead over West Chester and IUP in the PSAC. ESU has been riding high this season, but Kutztown came to play spoiler. After a furious battle, the Warriors found themselves in a 4-4 tie at halftime.
But the Warriors have been a second half team. ESU scored the next five straight goals in the next fifteen minutes to open the second half and make the score 9-4 before Kutztown finally got on the board.
Once again, a balanced scoring attack paced the Warriors.
Junior midfielder Chessie Rahmer had a hat trick (three goals) for the seventh time this season. Senior attack Lauren Green and T.J. Jefferis both recorded two goals and one assist each. Freshman attack Hana Cicerelle had one goal and three assists for a team-leading four points. Freshman goalkeeper Tatyana Petteway had another solid outing minding the net. The reigning PSAC Women’s Lacrosse Athlete of the Week made eight saves to backstop the Warriors. Petteway and the Warriors have a 0.522 save percentage to lead the PSAC.
Many of the teams’ statistics were close. The Warriors held a slim 28-25 advantage in shots and a 33-30 edge in ground balls.
The difference in the game was that ESU had a 13-7 edge in draw controls and a 21-18 advantage in caused turnovers to give the Warriors the two-goal win.
The No. 17 Warriors (12-2, 8-1) will be tested in the next two weeks. They face Head Coach Xeni Barakos’s old team Millersville (6-7, 3-5) on Thursday afternoon followed by two nationally-ranked teams: No. 12 West Chester (10-3, 7-2) and No. 19 IUP (8-5, 7-2) on Senior Day, April 29.
Email Ronald at:
rhanaki@live.esu.edu