Greeneville, Tenn.----The Wingate University women's lacrosse team put together an 8-0 second half run, rallying for a 17-14 South Atlantic Conference triumph over Tusculum College Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Field. WU sophomore attacks
Kendall Wells (Elkridge, Md.) and
Joanna King (Lancaster, Pa.) had four goals and five assists, respectively.
Wells had three goals and King had four assists in the crucial 8-0 flurry, turning a 10-8 deficit into a 16-10 advantage. Fittingly, Wells scored the game-winning goal on a King assist with 16:54 to play, giving the Bulldogs an 11-10 edge. For Tusculum, senior midfielder Madison Malone (Maple Grove, Minn.) had five goals and one assist.
GAME INFORMATION
Score: Wingate 17, Tusculum 14
Records: Wingate 4-11 overall (3-3 SAC), Tusculum 6-9 overall (4-3 SAC)
Location: Pioneer Field, Greeneville, Tenn.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
-WU freshman midfielder
Nina Cifolilli (Kent Island, Md.) scored four goals, while junior midfielder
Emily Ketron (Mason, Ohio) and freshman midfielder
Ellie Gottschalk (Bel Air, Md.) recorded three goals each.
-The statistical categories were very similar. Tusculum held the edge in shots (34-32) and ground balls (19-17), while Wingate won one extra draw control (17-16).
-Both teams played two goalies. Wingate freshman
Marley Blycher (Leesburg, Va.) picked up the win. In 21-plus minutes, she allowed four goals and posted six saves. TC starting goalie
Kate Pipkin (Annapolis, Md.) took the loss. She surrendered 10 goals and recorded six saves in 32-plus minutes.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
The two teams battled to a 7-7 tie after the first 30 minutes. Tusculum led 7-4 when Wingate put together a 3-0 run to end the half. Ketron, freshman midfielder/attack
Morgan Akers (La Plata, Md.) and Wells did the damage, tying the game 7-7 with 9:12 remaining.
Second Half
Gottschalk scored the first goal of the second half (25:21) to give Wingate a slim 8-7 edge. Malone started a 3-0 Tusculum push with a goal. TC senior attack
Savannah Elliott (Oshawa, Ontario, Canada) scored the next goals (23:31, 21:39) to put the hosts up 10-8. Cifolilli started the 8-0 run one minute later. Sophomore midfielder
Casey Roux (Rochester, N.Y.) tied the game at the 18:51 mark, then Wells scored the game-winner two minutes later. King had the assist on each of the aforementioned three goals.
NOTABLES
-Wingate has won the last three games against Tusculum after the Pioneers won the first game in the series 16-11 (2015). The Bulldogs have won three barn-burners 16-13 (2016), 14-13 (2017) and 17-14 (2018).
QUOTABLES
Wingate interim head women's lacrosse coach
Kirsten Smith: "We're super proud of everyone for stepping up today, staying composed and handling pressure. We started off a little slow, but we adjusted well and continued to chip away. We definitely found our groove in the second half. We had a lot of different people step up today including
Marley Blycher, who came up with some huge saves. Today was a full team effort and Coach (Austin) Brown and I couldn't be more proud."
NEXT ON THE AGENDA
Wingate visits Newberry Tuesday at 7 p.m. Tusculum travels down the mountain next Saturday, visiting Catawba for a 4 p.m. contest.
