The Eastern University women's lacrosse team earned their fourth straight win with a hard-fought 12-11 PAC victory at the College of Notre Dame. The road-weary Eagles needed a game-winning goal from Grace Griffith with just over 90 seconds left to improve to 4-1 in PAC competition for the year.
The Eagles, who never trailed in the game, got on the board in the second minute of the game when Jessie Basch connected on her 18th goal of the year. The hosts tied the game at 1-1 on a free position shot just thirty seconds later. Griffith picked up her first of four on the day with 25:23 on the clock to give the Eagles a lead they would hold until the waning minutes of the game.
Griffith then set up Katie Choquette on a nice combination to push the Eastern lead to 3-1. Erin Reimel picked up her 18th goal of the year to give the Eagles a three goal cushion. Eastern held a 6-4 lead at the break, but relied on goalie Km Campbell to make nine of her 13 saves in the first thirty minutes. Coach Azzarano said of the game, "We struggled in that we did not value the ball. It was as if we were waiting for the game to break open, but it never happened. Notre Dame has some very good attacking players, and we gave them too many possessions."
After Notre Dame's Tina Money opened the second frame with her second of three goals on the day, the Eagles responded with goals from Katie Maguire, Griffith, and Basch to build a four-goal cushion at 9-5. That lead did not last as the Gators' Anne Shippen connected on two straight inside two minutes to cut the Eastern lead in half.
Liza O'Keefe answered with her second of the year on the Eagles' only free position attempt of the day to build a 10-7 lead. After another Notre Dame goal with eleven and a half minutes to play, Reimel tucked home her third of the day off the ensuing draw to build a the lead to 11-8.
Neither team scored for the next seven minutes as the Eagles attempted to run some offense. The Gators earned the ball back, and their attack came to life with just over four minutes to play as they scored three straight goals in a two-minute span to tie the game at eleven. Griffith then finished the game with a her team-best 23rd of the year to send the Eagles back to St. Davids with the win.
Azzarano commented, "it is good for us to have to execute in tight games, and in playing on the road sometimes different things happen. I am very pleased that our team dug deep at the end and was able to pull off the victory."
The Eagles will attempt to win their fifth straight as their mid-season string of road games continues with a non-league game at Kings College on Monday.
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