Garnet Second-Half Comeback Falls Short
SWARTHMORE, Pa. -- The Swarthmore women's lacrosse team rallied from a five-goal deficit in the second half, but fell short in their comeback attempt as visiting McDaniel won 9-8 in Centennial Conference women's lacrosse action Saturday afternoon at chilly Clothier Field.
The Green Terror (8-2 overall, 2-2 CC) held an 8-3 lead after junior attack Kerrie Wuenschel scored her second goal of the afternoon with 26:33 left in the second half. Swarthmore picked up two quick goals, one from junior midfielder Megan Sanborn and the other from sophomore midfielder Anna de Regt, to cut the deficit to 8-5 with 21:53 left.
The two teams went the next 15 minutes without a score before Garnet sophomore Marissa Schaffer finished off a pass from de Regt on a free-position opportunity. Schaffer one-timed the ball over the shoulder of Terror backup goaltender Sarah White for her team-leading 27th goal of the season.
Green Terror attack Jennifer Stone tallied her second score of the afternoon at 6:03, giving McDaniel a 9-6 lead. Swarthmore pressed hard to pull the come-back off (in 2006 Swarthmore rallied down five goals to defeat McDaniel in Westminster, Md.) as de Regt scored her second goal—a free-position score with 4:54 left. The final Garnet score came at 1:22 when freshman Abbe Muller found classmate Alex Gilbert-Bono in front of the net. It was Gilbert-Bono's 18th goal of the season.
McDaniel won the ensuing draw control, running valuable time of the clock and forced a final Swarthmore turnover to claim the victory.
Swarthmore senior Lindsay Roth, Schaffer, and de Regt all had two scores for the Garnet. Freshman goalie Allison Grein made seven saves in her first collegiate start.
Stone, Wuenschel, and Erinn Hopkins scored two goals apiece for McDaniel while Meagan Mattson tallied two assists. Megan Millhausen made four saves in goal during the first half while White made ten saves in final 30 minutes.
Swarthmore held a 29-20 shot advantage, including an 18-7 margin in the second half and edged out the Green Terror in the draw control category (10-9).
Swarthmore will play consecutive home games for the first time in 2007, facing off against Washington College in Centennial Conference action on Tuesday, April 10 at 7:00 p.m.