REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women's Lacrosse team outlasted Occidental College Saturday night needing overtime to beat the Tigers 14-13.
The Maroon and Grey who were down one starter in Maeve Wiencek (Sherwood, OR), who was out due to illness found a way to rally and after giving up an early 7-1 lead was able to add the equalizer with under :15 seconds left in regulation before taking the win on a free-position in extra time.
Redlands has now won three in a row as they improve to 3-4, 2-2 SCIAC. The win also marks the first time the Bulldogs have beaten Oxy since 2017 when they won 15-11 on Senior Night (April 19, 2017).
It was a great start for the Maroon and Grey across the opening 15:00 minutes outscoring the Tigers 7-1. Oxy got on the scoreboard first two minutes in, but after that it was all Redlands putting up seven in a row, which included a pair of extra-person goals from Alison Waddles (Long Beach, CA) and four unassisted tallies from Maddie Bush (Ladera Ranch, CA) and Celine Flaig (Redondo Beach, CA). Across the 1st Quarter it was all about possession and during that time Redlands won six draw controls, which led to a big lead early.
Oxy made some adjustments defensively after that and came out in the 2nd Quarter holding UR scoreless while tacking on four goals to cut the deficit to two at the break. Flaig stopped the run quickly out of the half to push the lead back to three and it would go back and forth after that with Sasha Charrier (Austin, TX) connecting twice to move the score to 10-7 with 6:13 to go in the 3rd Quarter. But this lead wouldn't hold as Oxy would rattle off three straight, which included the equalizer with :02 seconds left that deadlocked the game at 10-10 heading to the 4th.
The Tigers got to work quickly in the final period taking their second lead of the game five minutes in. But again Redlands had a response as Sydney Louie (Lafayette, CA) and Flaig would go back to back to swing the momentum. With 6:20 left in regulation Occidental was able to get a pair of free position strikes from Emma Cho that again put Oxy in front this time 13-12. But UR didn't back away coming down with :26 seconds left to tie the game up thanks to first year Erin Steinhour (Poway, CA) who was fed by Bush from behind the goal forcing the game into overtime.
The ensuing draw control in the first OT period was won by Flaig and after a yellow card was issued to Oxy for a high stick check UR had a chance with another extra person opportunity. Head Coach Suzette Soboti then called a timeout setting her team up for the final play, which was Flaig drawing a foul inside, which led to a free-position. Flaig would then step in and nail it sending the Bulldogs to the golden goal victory.
Flaig led the offense posting five goals on eight shots with four groundballs, six draw controls and four caused turnovers. Bush totaled two goals and two assists, Louie added two goals and an assist, coupled with five groundballs, two caused turnovers and three draws controls. Kaitlyn Lesko (Budford, GA) proved tough on defense with four caused turnovers and two groundballs, while Charlie Baum (Hesperia, CA) played all 63:31 totaling seven saves in the win.
Redlands remains in conference play next Wednesday, March 22 when they travel to Orange County to take on Chapman University beginning at 4:00pm.