NEWBERG, Ore. – No. 3 seed Lewis & Clark College women's lacrosse closed within one goal late in the third quarter Friday night before No. 2 seed Whitman College pulled away for an 18-13 Northwest Conference Tournament semifinal win at Austin Sports Complex.
THE BASICS
Whitman 18, Lewis & Clark 13
(Lewis & Clark 11-7, NWC 6-2)
(Whitman 12-6, NWC 7-1)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Sophomore
Aviana Gonzales led the River Otters with six goals and one assist. First-year
Ala Cross added seven assists.
Junior
Sage Swegle scored three goals with one assist, and sophomore
Mack Searle scored three goals while leading Lewis & Clark with five ground balls and six draw controls.
First-year
Phoebe Labuhn made eight saves over 60 minutes in goal.
Whitman struck first on a goal from Lindsey Pasena-Littlesky at 13:27 of the opening quarter. Junior
Finley Allen tied the game at 11:24 on a feed from Gonzales. The Blues scored two straight to take a 3-1 lead before Swegle and Searle answered with goals 1:17 apart to even the score at 3-3. Emily Odegaard scored a free-position goal at 6:16 to send Whitman into the second quarter ahead 4-3.
Three of the first four goals in the second quarter were scored by Whitman as they moved ahead 7-3. Swegle scored off a feed from senior
Kate Meinhard at 9:44 to cut the deficit to three, but Lola McConaghy answered with a free-position goal. Gonzales scored a man-up goal at 4:49 and added another at 1:42, both assisted by Cross, to make the score 8-6. Molly Labhart converted a man-up free-position goal with 10 seconds remaining to give Whitman a 9-6 halftime lead.
Whitman scored three goals in the first 1:14 of the third quarter to extend the lead to 12-6. Lewis & Clark answered with six of the next seven goals. Gonzales scored on a helper from Cross at 13:06, and after a Pasena-Littlesky response, Searle scored off another Cross assist at 10:51 and added a free-position goal at 9:54. Gonzales scored on a feed from Cross at 8:44 to cut the deficit to 13-10. Swegle converted a man-up free-position goal at 6:36, and Gonzales added her fifth goal from Meinhard at 4:42 to pull the River Otters within 13-12. Whitman scored with 35 seconds remaining to push the lead back to 14-12.
The Blues opened the fourth quarter with a Pasena-Littlesky goal at 11:21 and added three more over the next eight minutes to extend the lead to 18-12. Gonzales closed the scoring with her sixth goal at 2:57 on a helper from Cross.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Lewis & Clark won the draw circle 17-15. Searle led with six, and Meinhard added four.
- Sophomore Kaedance Stubbs collected two ground balls and two caused turnovers, and sophomore Ava Mullen added two caused turnovers.
- The River Otters converted two man-up goals on three opportunities, while Whitman went 4-for-4 with the player advantage.
- Meinhard finished with two assists and ended her career at Lewis & Clark with 82 goals, 34 assists and program records of 116 ground balls, 71 caused turnovers and 214 draw controls.
WHAT'S NEXT
The semifinal appearance capped the program's best Northwest Conference finish and its first conference tournament berth. Lewis & Clark is expected to return 16 players from this season's roster in 2027.
