PORTLAND, Ore. – Lewis & Clark College women's lacrosse celebrated senior
Kate Meinhard pregame, erased an early six-goal deficit and led late in the third quarter, but George Fox University pulled away for a 17-13 Northwest Conference win on Sunday afternoon at Griswold Stadium.
THE BASICS
George Fox 17, Lewis & Clark 13
(Lewis & Clark 11-6, NWC 6-2)
(George Fox 14-3, NWC 8-0)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Meinhard was honored as the first graduating senior in program history ahead of Sunday's matchup. She scored her 82nd career goal in the second period, which pulled the River Otters within 7-6. The senior finished with four draw controls, three caused turnovers and three ground balls.
First-year
Ala Cross scored four goals and added four assists to surpass 100 career points. She recorded her 100th point at 5:59 of the first quarter on her first goal of the game and now has 107 career points.
Sophomore
Aviana Gonzales scored four goals and added two assists. Junior
Sage Swegle scored two goals, while Meinhard, junior
Finley Allen and sophomore
Mack Searle each added one. Searle won 11 draw controls, and Lewis & Clark held an 18-14 edge in the draw circle.
First-year
Phoebe Labuhn made 12 saves over 52 minutes in goal.
George Fox opened the game with six straight goals in the first quarter, with five players contributing. Claire Abraham scored the final two, including a man-down goal at 7:12. Cross scored Lewis & Clark's first goal at 5:59 and added a man-up goal at 1:46 to cut the deficit to 6-2 after one quarter.
Lewis & Clark outscored George Fox 6-3 in the second quarter and twice tied the game. Gonzales scored consecutive goals to open the period, Allen scored off a pass from Gonzales, and Meinhard scored off a feed from Cross to cut the deficit to one. Gonzales tied the game at 7-7 with 4:27 left, and Cross tied it again at 8-8 with 39 seconds remaining. Abraham scored with seven seconds left to give George Fox a 9-8 halftime lead.
Lewis & Clark took its first lead in the third quarter. Gonzales scored off a pass from Cross at 8:06 to make it 10-9, and Searle followed with a free-position goal to tie the game. Swegle gave Lewis & Clark an 11-10 lead at 6:43, and Cross scored at 3:26 to make it 12-11. George Fox responded with two goals in 30 seconds to take a 13-12 lead into the fourth quarter.
George Fox scored four of the five goals in the fourth quarter to secure the win. Swegle scored with 1:29 remaining, but Abraham added a man-up free-position goal with 18 seconds left to close the scoring.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Cross became the fourth player in program history to reach 100 career points and the first to do so in her first year at Lewis & Clark.
- Sophomore Kaedance Stubbs led the River Otters with six ground balls and three caused turnovers.
- Junior Gloria Meehan, Meinhard, and Allen each finished with three ground balls.
- George Fox earned its 91st consecutive NWC win and has not lost a conference game since April 20, 2016.
- Meinhard finished her final regular season with career program records of 71 caused turnovers, 115 ground balls and 210 draw controls. She also totaled 82 goals, 32 assists and 114 points in 45 career games.
WHO'S NEXT
Lewis & Clark earned the No. 3 seed in the Northwest Conference Tournament and will face Whitman College in the semifinals on Friday night at 7 p.m. in Newberg.
