PORTLAND, Ore. – Junior Finley Allen scored with 17 seconds remaining Wednesday night to lift Lewis & Clark College women's lacrosse to a 12-11 victory over Willamette University at Griswold Stadium. The win marked the program's first victory over the Bearcats and gave the River Otters a 1-0 start in Northwest Conference play.
 
THE BASICS
 
Lewis & Clark 12, Willamette 11
(Lewis & Clark 6-4, 1-0 NWC)
(Willamette 2-7, 0-1 NWC)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
First-year Ala Cross led all players with six points on two goals and four assists. Junior Sage Swegle scored four goals and added one assist, and senior Kate Meinhard finished with three goals and one assist.
 
Allen totaled two goals, including the game-winner, to go with seven draw controls and five ground balls. Sophomore Mack Searle added one goal, one assist, four draw controls and three ground balls.
 
Junior Aviana Gonzales recorded two assists, three ground balls and two caused turnovers, while sophomore Kaedance Stubbs picked up five ground balls. Sophomore Kaitlin McRae started in goal and played 51:44, making one save. First-year Phoebe Labuhn entered with 8:16 remaining in the fourth quarter and made one save to earn the win.
 
Meinhard opened the scoring at 13:33 of the first quarter with an unassisted goal. Willamette's Priya Mistry answered at 10:14 to tie the game at 1-1. Meinhard scored again at 6:38, assisted by Cross, to give Lewis & Clark a 2-1 lead. Mistry converted a free-position shot at 2:27 to tie it, but Swegle scored 10 seconds later off a Cross assist to make it 3-2 heading into the second quarter.
 
Willamette evened the score at 3-3 on a free-position goal at 12:04 of the second. Lewis & Clark responded with three goals in the final two minutes of the half. Meinhard converted a man-up free-position attempt at 1:56, and Cross scored twice in a 32-second span at 1:24 and 1:03, both assisted by Gonzales, to give the River Otters a 6-3 halftime lead.
 
Willamette's Alex Warfel cut the deficit to 6-4 at 11:17 of the third quarter. Allen answered at 10:22, assisted by Swegle, to restore a three-goal cushion. The teams traded goals for the remainder of the period. Swegle scored twice, while Warfel and Claire Kisielnicki each added goals, as Lewis & Clark carried a 9-6 lead into the fourth.
 
Warfel scored on a free-position shot at 13:13 of the fourth to make it 9-7. Swegle pushed the lead to 10-7 at 11:39 on a goal assisted by Cross. Willamette responded with four straight goals, the final coming at 2:36, to take its first lead of the game at 11-10.
 
Allen secured the ensuing draw control, and Searle scored unassisted with 1:46 remaining to tie the game at 11-11.
 
With just over a minute left, Searle picked up a ground ball on a turnover, and Lewis & Clark worked the clock for the final possession. Allen scored with 17 seconds remaining, assisted by Meinhard, to give the River Otters a 12-11 lead. Searle then won the final draw control as Lewis & Clark ran out the clock.
 
BY THE NUMBERS 

• Swegle's four goals matched Willamette's Warfel for the most in the contest.
• Lewis & Clark grabbed their most draw controls of the season and held a 17-9 advantage. Allen led the team with seven, and Meinhard added six.
• Meinhard's four points marked a season high and brought her career total to 98 points.
• Lewis & Clark out-shot Willamette 25-19 and held a 26-24 edge in ground balls.

WHO'S NEXT
 
Lewis & Clark travels to Pacific Lutheran on Saturday, April 11, for a 1 p.m. contest.