Stevenson women’s lacrosse had one thing in mind on Saturday, and that was to fine tune their plays in a win against the Pride of Widener University.
“We were able to band together and pull through with a win by having each other’s backs every step of the way,” said graduate student midfielder Sophia Murray.
The Mustangs got the 7-6 nail-biting win today at Widener University in a crucial Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) win that determined seeding for MAC playoffs which begin this Wednesday, May 1.
“The biggest aspect of getting the win was holding them down on defense” said standout midfielder Kara Yarusso in regard to what the key was to get the crucial win against the Pride.
The Pride got the scoring starting the game and jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first ten minutes of the game.
First-year Ava Treakle got the scoring started with a free position goal at the 5:06 mark of the first making it a 2-1 game.
Defense would continue to shine as Sophomore Marissa Massimini caused a turnover and capitalized on it by scoring a free position goal to tie 2-2 with 1:54 to go in the quarter.
Second quarter of play looked similar to the first quarter as defense turned up for both teams as only five total goals would be scored between both teams.
Stevenson had the advantage on offense via Kellyann Coccia, Murray, and Erin Steinberg. Steinberg scored the go-ahead goal thanks to an assist from Murray with 11 seconds to go in the half, which ended with 5-4 lead for the ‘Stangs.
The second half of play was fairly quiet as defense kept the scoring to just one goal that tied for Widener at the 3:06 mark of the quarter which ended in a 5-5 draw.
Thanks to adjustments after the third, scoring appeared early in the final quarter thanks to junior Isabelle VanEmburgh who found the back of the net twice for a lasting Stevenson lead. The contest ended 7-6 conference win number win number 5 on the year.
“Only allowing 6 goals in is how you win games, and I think we executed our defense well,” said Yarusso.
With the win, Widener falls to 8-9 overall and 4-3 in the MAC, meanwhile Stevenson improves to 11-6 overall and 5-2 in the conference.
The team now shifts their focus to MAC playoffs on Wednesday at No. 2 Messiah University. Stevenson will be hungry for redemption as they suffered a close 15-12 loss in their last match against the Falcons.
“To prepare for Messiah we are going back and rewatching out game to figure out what we exceeded at, and what needs to be fixed,” Yarusso said. “Being able to know their tendencies from last game will be big going onto Wednesday’s game.”
No. 3 Stevenson will travel to Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania for the MAC Semifinal game this Wednesday at 4 p.m.
