Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
REDLANDS, Calif. – The Whittier College women's lacrosse team provided a scare for the University of Redlands Saturday evening as they held an early lead only to see it evaporate in a 13-10 loss on the road.
Whittier (1-2, 0-2 SCIAC) is knocking on the door for there first conference win in the past three years and tonight they showed that it will come sooner than later. The Purple & Gold jumped out in front quickly 4-1 over the Bulldogs with freshman Lexie Meanor (Sewickley, PA) going off adding the first three tallies, which included a free position goal.
Daniella Delledera (Livermore, Calif.) then got into the mix with an unassisted goal that forced Bulldog Head Coach Suzette Soboti to call a timeout. Out of it, Dulce Moll would add back-to-back goals that pulled UR within one but Jess Hansen (Seal Beach, Calif.) would come up big for the Poets adding a man-down goal coming on a free position that put Whittier back on top by two.
This though would be the last goal scored over the final 7:00 of the first half for the Poets as UR would add four unanswered, which included two man advantage goals giving them a 7-5 lead at the break.
Out of the half, Redlands went on a 4-0 run with Lacey Bjorndal adding two straight that extended the Bulldog lead to 11-5. Angelina Cuevas (Long Beach, Calif.) ended the run at the 15:59 mark being fed by freshman Gabby Boller (Howell, NJ) and would come back four minutes later adding a man-up free position goal that pulled Whittier within five.
In the final 9:22, Whittier's defensive unit stood strong holding the Bulldogs scoreless, while mounting a comeback with Delledera and Cuevas adding the final three goals of the game. But the early second half deficit was too much to over come as Whittier would fall short 13-10.
Cuevas finished with four goals on four shots for a perfect 100% shooting percentage. Lauren Tudor (Bellevue, WA) had an assist, four groundballs, a draw control, and a caused turnover and Meanor had three goals on seven shots, two groundballs, and two draw controls.
In goal, Madison Topping (El Dorado Hills, Calif.) got the start playing 40 minutes of action finishing with five saves against 16 shots. Emily Olague (San Ramon, Calif.) came in for the final 20:00 and picked up three saves on five shots.
Whittier remains on the road this evening, Wednesday, March 2 as they take on Claremont-M-S beginning at 7:00pm.
