Despite leaving it all on Farquhar Field on Senior Day, the University of Redlands women's lacrosse team suffered a tough 11-13 loss to the visiting Panthers of Chapman University on Saturday. The Bulldogs made a great push to make it a one-goal game with 3:58 to play but that was as close as they would get in the final contest of the regular season.
After recognizing senior midfielder Hanna Morford (West Linn, OR), senior midfielder/defender Alexis Pound (Washington, DC), senior attacker/midfielder Adi Fellows (Albuquerque, NM), junior/senior defender Abby Filsinger (Verona, WI), and senior attacker/midfielder Kelsey Ruhl (Seattle, WA), the Bulldogs did their best to honor them in the game with a hard-fought showdown.
Redlands nabbed an early 3-1 lead by the 21:12-mark of the first half, as Morford converted two goals and Ruhl scored one. Ruhl created her own opportunity by forcing Chapman into a turnover and then snagging the subsequent ground ball, which led to her goal.
However, the Panthers answered with three consecutive netters for a slight 4-3 advantage less than 10 minutes later.
Following a Bulldog timeout, the teams continued to jockey for position in the final 12:19 of the half, with junior midfielder Sadie Pickering (Tacoma, WA) and Morford notching critical goals for the Maroon and gray.
But Chapman gained the upper hand by the end of the stanza with a slight 7-5 lead.
Nonetheless, the Bulldogs bounced back early in the second half to even the tally at eight and again at nine. After sophomore attacker Bre Gunderson (San Diego, CA) hauled in the second draw control of the period, Morford went straight to goal to earn a free-position opportunity, which she converted for the Bulldogs. Back-to-back draw controls for Redlands resulted in first-year midfielder Alison Waddles' (Long Beach, CA) consecutive free-position goals in a matter of 36 seconds. First-year midfielder Sydney Louie (Lafayette, CA) also made the most of her opportunity on the first hash about six minutes later.
But the Panthers effectively regrouped to score three goals in a row for a 12-9 lead.
Morford made her final game as a Bulldog a memorable one by doing her best to bring her team back. She scored off a nice feed from first-year midfielder Maeve Wiencek (Sherwood, OR) and then repeated the effort of Louie's pristine pass to cut it to 11-12.
However, Chapman registered an insurance goal with about two minutes to play and nabbed the ensuing draw control. Although Redlands forced the Panthers into two turnovers late in the game, the home team's final offensive effort was denied.
Morford finished the day with six goals and six draw controls, while first-year attacker/midfielder Joren Fettig (Bend, OR) snagged three draw controls, picked up two ground balls, and forced one Panther turnover.
First-year goalkeeper Annie Van Norstrand (Littleton, CO) made seven stops and nabbed two caused turnovers in a complete-game effort.
Redlands finishes the 2019 season with an 8-8 overall record and a 2-8 mark in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) action for fifth place.