The University of Redlands women's lacrosse team returned to Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) action on Saturday afternoon with a 20-14 decision over the visiting Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer Colleges. Prior to the game, the Bulldogs celebrated their six seniors with a pre-game presentation.
After giving up a goal to the Sagehens in the opening minute, the Bulldogs responded with a 3-0 run as three different goal-scorers found the back of the net.
Pomona-Pitzer answered with a 4-1 spurt to take a one-goal lead at 17:10 remaining in the first period.
Sophomore midfielder Lauren Crask (Livermore, CA) connected on a pass from sophomore attack player Blair Callaghan (Tacoma, WA) to tie the score at five apiece just over three minutes later.
From here it was all Bulldogs as they poured on four more goals while giving up just one to the Sagehens for a 9-6 lead at the break.
The second period saw Redlands take 14-8 lead with junior midfielder Christy Smith (St. Louis Park, MN) tallying a hat trick in this six-and-a-half-minute span.
However, Pomona-Pitzer rallied for four straight goals to cut its deficit to two with 8:47 to go in the second half.
This inspired another offensive outburst by the Bulldogs as they used five different players to score during a four-minute span. Senior attack player Mary Shepherd (Dallas, TX) provided two of her three assists and senior attack player Diana Frey (Silver Spring, MD) recorded her second of three goals on the day. Smith racked up her fourth goal while senior midfielder Haley Kern (Portland, OR) and sophomore midfielder Megan Prickett (Poway, CA) both notched their second scores of the game.
With a 19-12 lead, Redlands gave up two late goals by the Sagehens but then secured its 20th score of the game when Smith connected on a pass from Frey with 29 seconds left on the clock.
With 12 different goal-scorers and assists coming from four players, the Bulldogs offered a well-balanced and diverse attack.
In addition to her team-leading four goals, Smith also corralled four ground balls and four draw controls while causing two turnovers. Freshman midfielder Katie Colasurdo (Eugene, OR) racked up five ground balls and two draw controls.
Freshman goalkeeper Stephanie Honeycutt (Portland, OR) earned the win in her first start by making four saves in nearly 40 minutes of action. Sophomore Ana Martinez finished out the game with four saves of her own.
Redlands (7-4, 2-1 SCIAC) hosts Whittier College in a SCIAC battle on Wednesday at 7 p.m. on Farquhar Field.
