COLCHESTER, V.T. - D'Youville women's lacrosse picked up their 4th win on the year in dramatic fashion in their 10-8 win against the Saint Michaels Purple Knights. Despite a cold, rainy, midweek away matchup this evening, the Saints were able to rally from a deficit and pick up their first win of the week against the quality NEC opponent.
In the first quarter,
Madison Buck was able to kick off the Saints offense with a pair of goals that included an important free position goal to tie the game 2-2 before fellow senior
Sam Newlin closed the quarter with a goal assisted from
Danielle Gephart to pull the Saints ahead at the close of the first quarter.
The second quarter showed to not be as a friendly as the Purple Knights were able to score the first 4 goals of the quarter before another
Danielle Gephart assist to
Madison Buck goal with 33 seconds left in the second quarter cut the deficit to 2 going into halftime. Both goalies were brilliant in the 3rd quarter, Saints freshmen
Kaylee Farias in particular. Farias was able to save 6 of 7 shots on goal in the third quarter alone as the Saints went into the fourth quarter with still just a 2 point deficit.
The Saints, as they have all season, showed they were not walking away without a fight. A beautiful feed from
Ireland Costigan to
Sam Newlin second goal of the game cut the deficit to just 1 before a
Danielle Gephart free position goal tied the game with 10 minutes remaining. From there,
Lauren Parker took over. The Division II draw control leader dominated possession and the scoreboard, scoring three consecutive goals—including a free-position goal—to give the Saints their largest lead of the game. Parker also controlled the draw circle throughout, finishing with a game-high 12 draw controls to help D'Youville dictate the pace late.
Saint Michael's added a late goal in the closing seconds, but it was not enough as D'Youville closed out the 10-8 victory.
Offensively, the Saints were led by Buck (3 goals), Parker (3 goals), and Newlin (2 goals), while Gephart added a goal and two assists. D'Youville's 16-4 advantage in draw controls proved to be a major difference, fueling the Saints' comeback and sealing a hard-earned road win. The Saints will attempt to knock off #21 St. Anslem's in another road matchup on Saturday, April 4th in New Hampshire with a start time of 11:00am.
