It was a celebratory end to the weekend for Stevenson women’s lacrosse.
The Mustangs (1-3), hungry for their first win, came out ready to roll. Their energy led them to beat Otterbein (2-1) in a non-conference matchup 19-4.
“We really put an emphasis on having fun out there and working together,” said senior midfielder Kara Yarusso in a postgame interview with Glenn Clark.
Working together was key as nine different Mustangs scored. Yarusso led the team with six goals and seven points. She started the scoring capitalizing on a caused turnover and ground ball, driving down the field and scoring with 13:02 remaining in the first quarter.
The Mustangs continued their offensive run scoring four more goals, eventually forcing Otterbein to take a timeout at the 8:14 mark of the quarter.
At this point of the quarter, Otterbein already had three turnovers, all three being converted into Stevenson goals during that offensive run. Otterbein turned it over seven times in the quarter and after one, Stevenson was off to an 8-0 lead.
After two turnovers by each team, Stevenson adjusted thanks to a ground ball pickup by freshman defender Hailey Johnston, and graduate student Erin Stienberg capitalized, assisted by senior attacker Bailey Krahl at the 12:27 mark of the quarter.
Stevenson took advantage of an Otterbein yellow card after the goal, along with a green card committed and two more turnovers.
Otterbein’s sluggish and sloppy defense led to a Mustang ground ball pickup by Krahl and a goal by junior midfielder Isabelle VanEmburgh assisted by junior attack/midfielder Kellyann Coccia at the 10:01 mark.
According to head coach Kathy Railey, it was at this point of the game when the Stangs’ strength and height advantage may have coast them as Otterbein was “really hard not to reach across and try to check.” She is referring to when the Mustangs received two yellow cards and a green all within 1 1/2 minutes with seconds to go in the half.
Ultimately, this led to Otterbein sophomore midfielder Ava Robey scoring with 34 seconds left in the half, putting Otterbein on the board at 10-1 going into halftime.
Rolling into the second half, the advantages of Stevenson’s strength would harm them again leading to another yellow card less than a minute into the half. Otterbein capitalized on the woman-up advantage, and senior midfielder Carli Rigel score at the 14:04 mark of the third.
Stevenson continued their dominance in the draw circle, winning the next draw thanks to Yarusso. She drove down the field and scores her fourth goal of the game at the 13:50 mark of the third quarter, making the score 11-2.
Adjustments were made in the third as the Mustangs never relinquished their draw controls and never let Otterbein score for the rest of the third, finishing with an unanswered 6-0 run going into the fourth.
It was not until the 7:16 mark of the fourth when Otterbein’s Carli Rigel would score an unassisted goal, cutting into the score and making it 17-3. Momentum would never shift in Otterbein’s favor as Stevenson freshman Lizzy Cohen scored her first collegiate with 5:53 remaining in the game assisted by VanEmburgh.
Head coach Kathy Railey in a postgame interview with Glenn Clark describes Cohen as “the most spirited, wonderful person and really cares about her friends, really cares about her team.”
Otterbein scored late to make it 18-4, but sophomore defense/midfielder Maddie Kline scored the games final point, sealing the deal at the 0:00 mark of the game, making 19-4 the final.
Stevenson stays home for their next game, hosting University of Rochester Saturday at Mustang Stadium at 1 p.m. The game can be streamed here.
